Santa Sophie

Teacher Nancy at Sophie's Mommy & Me class dressed up as Santa today...it was a hoot! The kids got to sit on "her" lap and get a wrapped present/book from another classmate. Then we made Santa hats and went caroling through the other classes in session; the students didn't seem to mind the adorable interruptions. After a potluck lunch and naptime at home, we hit the library for a marionettes show. I personally find the puppets kind of freaky, but the kids found them amusing for the most part, unless they got too close.

Adia and Sophie with Santa Nancy

Santa Sophie

Lydia petting the horse marionette

And the most famous of them all

Slow Saturday

Saturday was an easy-going kind of day. We left the house late to meet Christine and Elyse at Lakeshore Learning Center to do the free arts and crafts, but mainly to transfer a carseat over to them since she would be watching the kids later on that night during Trung's company Christmas party. After lunch, we went shopping for biking essentials like biker shorts and a helmet because Trung plans to bike to work now that his company has moved to Santa Monica.

After a quick nap, Trung and I got ready for the party and dropped the girls off at Marina Del Rey, where they watched the boat parade with Christine. The party was held at La Cicada, a very nice banquet hall, in downtown LA. Traffic was horrible; apparently it is ALWAYS bad in LA. We each had a drink and some appetizers, but saved room for the buffet and desserts. We tried our hand at Black Jack, but didn't do so well, so we saved our tokens for raffle tickets to win a camera instead. The time passed very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to pick up the kids; we still had a nice time and a little break from the kids.

Watching Santa #3 drive by

Making gingerbread men at Lakeshore

The girls were so wired and very happy to see us when we picked them up at Christine's house after the party.

New Song's Christmas Party

My friend informed me of a community Christmas party; we didn't know what it was for, but we still went...anything to get the kids out of the apartment. The party, we found out later, was sponsored by a church called New Song and the juggling act was very entertaining. Free food, entertainment, prizes, and fun...definitely a good night! :)

Second Santa picture

I volunteered to assist the entertainer...here I am trying to catch balls in a tiny goldfish net.

Santa's Sleigh

Santa made a grand entrance into our community with police sirens and a lit sleigh. The girls were very excited this year to see Santa and when asked what they wanted for Christmas, Lydia responded "croutons" and Sophie said "chocolate milk". We had to wait in line for a little while, but the candy cane that Santa gave made it all worthwhile.

Waving at Santa Claus

Passing the time in line

Santa's sweeties

Kidspace Museum Again!

The girls had such a wonderful time at the Kidspace Museum last month that we decided to go back again. This time we went to the bikes first because the girls couldn't get enough of it, plus it gets dark earlier. The girls revisited the same activities and even discovered some new ones, like the ant tunnel. Afterwards, we went back to La Grande Orange Station for a surf and turf dinner (fish and prime rib); it was still good, but not as good as I remembered it. Hopefully we can go back to the museum even though I will have less motivation now that Trung's office will be closer to home.

Tandem bikes

Ant hill

We each got a complimentary cookie when we left the restaurant so Trung washed the kids' dirty hands in the fountain. Shhh, don't tell!

Mike in Santa Monica

Mike didn't have any plans for Saturday, so he came to visit us. We started off with a playdate at a park in Beverly Hills with my friend Annie and her two daughters. Then the girls took naps while Mike and Trung watched "The Warrior's Way". We had dinner at a delightful restaurant/fish store called Santa Monica Seafood and ended the night walking around the Third Street Promenade.

Trung worked doubly hard pushing the older girls. The changing colors of the leaves were gorgeous!

The yummy seafood tower

Sophie and Mike at Santa Monica Place

At the Playa Vista Mom's Christmas party Saturday afternoon

New BFF

Lydia and the new girl in class, Amani, have become fast friends. We've been keeping up with our weekly playdate with all the little girls in Lydia' class and it has been fun getting to know the kids and their moms.

Almost pictureless vacation

We flew to Houston Thanksgiving morning and spent the next five days catching up with friends and family. Thursday evening my parents hosted their annual Thanksgiving dinner for a good number of church members and their families. Friday morning, Cora and I hit the Galleria at 8 AM for the sales. Afterwards, we met the rest of the family for dim-sum and then did some more shopping at Town and Country Village. When Lydia got up from her nap, I took her and my mom to Katy Mills Outlet to purchase some kids' shoes. Needless to say, but the end of the day, I was "shopped" out, but still managed to have a wonderful time reminiscing with old junior high friends later that night. It probably helped that we sent the kids back home after twenty minutes when it was obvious that they would destroy all the antiques in the house.

Saturday we met with old college friends and tried to catch up as much as possible with our limited time. Then off to Taste of Texas for good ole steak to celebrate Trung's birthday. We also got to enjoy a date night and watch the new Harry Potter. We could barely keep our eyes opening at the late showing, but it was nice finally watching a movie at the theatre after four months.Sophie is much more interested in the Snickers pie

Everyone got a piece

Sunday morning was too eventful for my liking; Trung realized that he didn't have the car keys while at the airport after I had dropped him off. Apparently he had put the keys in Lydia's backpack and forgot to move them, so...I frantically texted, called, and e-mailed around and managed to get Trung home safely without spending a penny. Whoo-hoo, thank goodness for our new friends Guro and Trond who saved the day and my sanity! After church and the kids' naps, I met up with Jen and we went to meet Connie's kids. Later we were the last two people standing while eating hot pot...that is some good stuff!

Monday was very low-key, the girls and I just stayed at my parent's house and chilled. Tuesday we went over to Jimmy's house; Cora and I watched "Eat Pray Love" while the kids played with all of Jocelyn and Jason's toys. After a delicious Japanese lunch, we packed up and headed to the airport. The flight home wasn't too bad despite a 45 minute delay, though the kids got bored very easily. I don't think I'll be traveling for awhile, but it sure was nice being with family and getting a break from the kids from time to time. :P

The girls sitting on their cushion-y backpacks while waiting in line to board the plane.

Birthday boy

We celebrated Trung's 34th birthday with his favorite home-cooked meal and special pictures drawn by the girls. Happy birthday, honey!

Giggling girls

A song just for dear Daddy


The loves of my life

Small Gift LA

Sanrio hosted an event called Small Gift LA in honor of it's 50th anniversary and even though we heard mixed reviews, we still went to check it out. The environment was pretty cool, but everything cost money, even just a simple face painting of whiskers and a black nose cost a couple of bucks. And the lines...oh the lines. We went on the last day of the event, a few hours before closing, so we must have hit the "last minute" crowd. Overall, a cute event, but only fun if you're willing to fork over a lot of moo-lah.

Waiting in line in the chill to get into the event

Where there is a photo op, there is Lydia

Presenting...Hello Kitty!

The only time you'll ever see the entire family crammed inside a Smart Car.

The best part of the event...meeting Hello Kitty