With all the planning and stress of Christmas, I never got around to watching my favorite holiday movie. Truth be told, I probably didn't watch it last Christmas either (or even the Christmas before that) but it's seriously one of my favorite movies. I just don't watch movies often.
Anyways, after getting the girls to sleep, e and i settled down to watch Love Actually, bathed in the lights from the Christmas tree. i think i had some sort of grin/smirk/sad smile on my face the entire time. i seriously adore this movie.
nini decided to take belly ice skating, after she told him a few weeks ago she wanted to go because she watched mickey's twice upon a christmas, oh, 241 times in a span of 2 weeks.
they made plans before nini even got back here from cali, and every time she talked to him, she reminded him that they were going to go.
so maybe 13 hours after they landed in DC, off we went to reston town center so belly could have her first ice skating experience. of course, when we got there and bulilit saw her sister with skates (because, let's be honest, i wasn't going to NOT bring bulilit, kawawa naman!), well of course bulilit wanted to skate too. so the 4 of us ventured out onto the ice.
(btw, did you know there are two blades on children's skates? wish they made those in adult sizes!)
ooookkkkayyy... so, it was all smiles and laughter for the first few minutes. nini had belly and i had bulilit and we're holding them up but they don't really know what they're doing. bulilit's legs make a figure eight in the ice, but not in a beautiful, ice skater way, more like, legs spread far apart and then turn back in and come together as mommy adjusts, then there they go again, until she's practically doing splits on the ice.
belly seems happy finally "skating" (aka gliding along as nini pulls her) until i skate up to her and try to hold her but she falls. then it's tears and crying.
so my brother and i take turns carrying the girls as we skate around the rink (me, tentatively because i'm not that good a skater and trying to carry an extra 25-35 lbs on you while you're trying to do that is probably not the best idea in the world). the girls decide it's infinitely better to be held and skated around the rink than it is to actually skate themselves.
so maybe 45 minutes after we get there, we're back in the rental room unlacing skates. and when we go to return the skates at the desk, the clerk looks at us and says, "already?"
thanks, e, for a super fun night out... dinner at fuddruckers before the DC stop of the OMG tour.
Featuring... (hmm, that picture is tiny.)
and
We missed Miguel but damn, Trey Songz def knew how to work the women in attendance into a frenzy. I swear I heard panties dropping left and right. But no hate from me, boy is fine. :)
I was joking with e that both Trey Songz and Usher stole his "signature move" with the wife beater... inside joke.
I tweeted from the concert that watching Usher brings me back to early '98 watching the Puff Daddy & The Family World Tour at Madison Square Garden. Ahhh memories.
missing disney land today, so was looking through our pictures. which then made me remember my favorite attractions at disneyworld, which i haven't been to since 2005. here's one of my absolute favorite attractions at the magic kingdom:
celebrated immaculate conception today with mass in the morning... marian holidays are my favorite because i love the songs. :)
eric and i had gotten the tree up and ready to be decorated, so when they got home tonight, i had all the ornaments out for the girls to hang. as we were decorating, i noticed ella was really getting into it... so adorable!! even after we had finished putting on all the ornaments, she wanted to find more things to hang, she wanted to decorate more. can't wait for next christmas!
thanksgiving dinner with the leftover fam ... only 14 or so of us since the rest of family were in different parts of the country. thankful that we had somewhere to go to celebrate with people we love.
ha. i haven't opened blogger in at least a week. have notes on my phone for a few posts i want to write up, but haven't gotten around to it. and no notes for nov 1-5. what can i say, it's been nuts. updates soon, hopefully in two weeks. hint below.
p.s. how have i not had a reason to create a "travel" tag in 10 months?!?
we spent the morning at my old high school today, for the annual esprit de noel holiday event. i seriously love that campus, and really really hope we somehow manage a way to have the girls attend in 10 years.
we met up with one of my old high school friends and her daughter. our kids had a blast on the moon bounce (as usual!) and i picked up some more visi gear, just like i do every year. it was freezing cold, but we still had a good time!
random thing to be thankful for... giant's gas savings program with shell. had to fill up the benz, and with all our accumulated points, i saved $0.50 per gallon!
i had to move my car this morning so mom could get out. when i got in, WKYS was playing touch me, tease me. i was totally jamming out in my car, and then turned the radio on as soon as i got back in the house. here's the mix they played (click for youtube videos):
headed up to connecticut this weekend to celebrate my aunt/uncle's joint 60th birthday celebration. we had a packed car since we were also taking my parents plus smee. definitely thankful for the pilot!!
on the way up, we made our obligatory stop at jersey gardens. as much as i love it (and the VS outlet that has catalog returns/excess for dirt cheap), i'm glad we don't live near it because i would definitely buy that place out.
the girls had a good time running around the play area while smee and i got our quick shop on. heard belly even made a friend. :)
we continued on, and as much as i was dreading being in the car for 7-8 hours with 2 kids under the age of 4, it really wasn't as bad as i expected. we finally made it up to connecticut after some monster traffic on the merritt, and had some good times with family.
random good times from saturday: -kings and charades with the cousins (and coming up with our own special ways for our team to guess "3D," "precious" and "my big fat greek wedding" -- as well as not being successful at guessing things like "avatar") ... and the aftermath (ha!) -my convo with smee saturday night, laying in bed, whispering in the dark as belly slept
on our way back home on sunday, e took us on a "car tour of NYC" since we didn't really want to stop slash couldn't decide what area of midtown we wanted to park at and explore. of course, e had to stop at gray's papaya and i needed to find a nuts vendor. after that, we went to jersey city to take pictures of the NYC skyline and hunt down some good filipino food.
random good times on sunday: - (smee's hot nuts, literally) -hot dogs from gray's papaya -best pan de sal ever, warm and straight from the oven from PBH -hilarious time: driving through Indian town three times because e couldn't find Max's or PBH!
i can be very efficient at multi-tasking when i need to be. worked from home today and managed to put in a full day while simultaneously doing 7 loads of laundry and emptying the dishwasher. i'm exhausted.
sissy's here! got to our house around 8am and had crepes for breakfast. later in the afternoon, we played with the kids for a couple hours on the playground since the weather was gorgeous. wrapped up the day with a big chinese dinner at our house!
such a fun day. had lunch with one of my fave people in the world at friday's, and caught up on all the fam gossip. tonight, e took both kids so i could go do girls' night at hs bestie's house. on my way home to pick up my contribution for the dessert potluck (bruschetta and pumpkin bread), i saw a shooting star. i ended up wishing that e would have an easy time with the girls while i was away for the evening.
when i got home, wouldn't you know, both girls are sleeping and e said there were no waterworks. when i told him about the shooting star wish, he said i should've wished for a million dollars. what can i say ... me and thinking fast don't necessarily go together.
funny how certain smells trigger memories, even something you haven't smelled in a while. bulilit was prescribed augmentin, that thick chalky liquid, for a bacterial infection (i know, TMI). i worried she'd fight me and not want to take it but wouldn't you know? she had no complaints. even looked for more! but that may have more to do with the cool medicine squirter and less to do with the medicine.
today we also heard belly singing along to dj got us falling in love... didn't even know she knew that song.
today, we met up with a friend whom i've known since kindergarten. we went to school together for most of our lives (missing only the 3rd grade and 3.5 years of college) and luckily reconnected a couple years ago. she had her first son a little over a week after i gave birth to buliilt. so it's even nicer to see our kids playing together!
since we both needed to get ready for halloween, we found a pumpkin patch somewhat halfway in between us, krop's crops. when we first drove up to it, e was a little hesitant, saying it looked really boring. to be fair, it did... all we could see was the storefront, a small selection of pumpkins and a bunch of flowers and pottery. once we parked and really looked around, we found a few things to keep the kids busy.
it took a while, but belly and bulilit warmed up to the farm animals in the back. belly was even feeding grass to the goats and the donkey (though she definitely favored the goats). this city girl was not excited to feed animals (but i did it anyway!). the girls also got a kick out of the bunny and the insane amount of chickens.
we were waiting around for the hay ride when we discovered the corn bin. oh. my. goodness. best invention ever. it's basically a ball pit with thousands of corn kernels. the kids jumped in and then convinced the adults to get in. we played in there for a long time (and had corn kernels falling out of various places the rest of the day!). we finally had our turn on the hay ride and the kids seemed to enjoy it. to top it all off, the weather was beautiful - sunny and warm! we'll definitely be going back next year!
after the hay ride, kids were starving so we stopped at a little pizza place nearby and had a really good lunch! it was adorable watching the kids run around the empty restaurant.
oh and interesting tidbit... on our way to krop's crops, we passed by gilbert arenas' house. all i have to say is DAMN.
what a busy weekend! saturday morning, we took family portraits for e's side of the family. bulilit was *not cooperating and was miserable until she found the strand of pearls! after that, we couldn't get her to *stop smiling. :) belly, as expected, loved getting pictures taken of her.
after the pictures and a quick lunch at whole foods, we went to e's cousin's wedding. i'd never been to a wedding at an iglesia ni cristo church, and i didn't go in with the rest of the fam since i was in the car with a sleeping bulilit. when i walked in, i headed for my left to sit in the back, and only when a man pointed me in the other direction did i realize that men were on the left, women were on the right. oops.
anyway, the wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun. in the car on the way home from gaithersburg, bulilit wanted her milk warmed and i told her we were in the car and i couldn't warm it. so belly says, "but mommy, if we wait for the sun, the sun can make the milk warm." why, yes, belly, yes it can. too bad it's 9:30 at night.
Thursday, October 7
red patent leather pumps: $60gray pants: $20black button down long sleeve blouse: $20
feeling all grown up when i go to the office? priceless.
i was on a baking kick the past couple days and, not to sound conceited, the three things i made were pretty darn good. :) here are the recipes.
maple apple pie a few months ago, my sis-in-law's parents came to visit and my parents took them to west virginia. they came back with a homemade maple apple pie which was to die for. ever since then, i've been kind of obsessed. so sunday, i attempted my version. belly liked it, and e said it's the best apple pie he's ever had (aww, thanks boo). i prefer it with ice cream, warm from the oven.
Then last night, I made two different danishes. frozen puff pastry is my new friend. These two danishes make a yummy breakfast with coffee.
giada's chocolate cheese danish. she's never done me wrong. every recipe i've ever tried of hers has been a hit... watch, i just jinxed myself.
here's the original recipe.
what a super fun weekend ... e and i are exhausted, but it was sooo worth it.
on saturday, we went to the fall for fairfax kidsfest before heading to a birthday party. the weather was perfect and there was so much for the kids to do. we painted pumpkins, visited the petting zoo (where bulilit was scared to actually pet the animals), bounced around the moonbounce for a few minutes and took a ride on the train. on our way to the birthday party, bulilit passed out in the car without a whine (or milk!).
the kids loved the birthday party too, because it was at my gym which meant they got to run around and play. they definitely worked up an appetite, scarfing down the pizza and cake before playing some more. bulilit kind of loved the ball pit. when we were leaving, belly asked, "mommy, can we come back here?"
(yes, that's bulilit face-down in the ball pit. she popped right back up as soon as i snapped this picture.)
after the party, we headed back to the kidsfest, because e didn't get a chance to sample festival food. once we got back, we watched a ballet production (with belly saying she could do it too), went back to the petting zoo (bulilit is obsessed with the "mamas" aka llamas) and ate bad-for-you-but-tastes-so-good food. the girls also got to make crafts.
on sunday, we went to the wizards fanfest at mason. not as much fun as fall for fairfax, but it was still a nice day and being outside was a requisite. bulilit and i took a picture with g-wiz, who she called the blue elmo. she was a little scared of him but liked the mystics panda. while waiting for scrimmage to start, i asked belly if she wanted to be like the wizards cheerleaders or play basketball and she goes, "i think i want to play basketball." we watched the first half of the wizards scrimmage, then headed home for naps and chores.
one of the best things about this weekend was watching belly and bulilit play together and hearing them laugh, doing silly things that never fail to bring a smile to our faces... including belly's renditions of billionaire and california gurls and bulilit's rendition of justin bieber's baby. LOVE.
worked from home today while the kids were at ami's. aside from my usual work (which has been beyond crazy this week), i had a yummy japanese lunch (chicken teriyaki, california rolls and tempura) and watched young victoria before the kids & e got home. then, after the kids went to bed, e and i caught up on glee (including the britney episode!!). NICE.
been working at my parents' house a couple days this week and i was looking for one of my old english books in my closet. instead, i found a hand drawn picture of the pentagon, signed by all my coworkers as a goodbye present when i left the job i had been at for only a little over a year. reading the messages made me smile and wonder where all those people are now...
we then battled awful metro DC traffic to make it to a birthday dinner for my uncle. in total there were about 20+ of us ... and belly spent most of the evening sitting with her ninang, smarie and fam, so she could watch dora. bulilit sat with her ninong for a little bit and was trying to get belly's attention. after a few minutes of "belly! belly! belly!" belly gets all up in bulilit's face and goes, "what do you want bulilit????" cue cracking up by smarie's fam. :)
work's taken over my life so all these draft posts i had sitting in here are just going to get published as is. so scroll on down to read!
today, i was thankful to be in the office and hang out with a good friend. on a conference call in the morning, one of the participants had her kids screaming in the background and it made me SO HAPPY to be in office (not that i usually hear the kids when i work from home, since i'm in the office upstairs and punky has them down in the basement).
getting dressed up and putting on make up is so much fun when you don't have to do it every single day!
bulilit had her regular check up this morning. my brave little girl looked at the needle for her vaccinations, said "ow" when the nurse stuck her in her left arm, then yelled at the nurse when she stuck her in her right arm. cried for about 30 seconds and was done.
i made these cookies over the weekend, with a slight change. i had so much chocolate in my pantry (let's not talk about how it all got there, 'kay?) that i wanted to chop it all up and throw it in some cookies. i ended up chopping up a bunch of hershey's, hershey's special dark, krackle and kisses and called them candy shop cookies.
biting into the krackle was AMAZING, as was the hershey's special dark. i still think this is the best cookie base recipe i've found. next time, though, i think i'll reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup because of all the extra sugar from the candy.
as soon as i put them in the oven, e asked why i was spoiling him. haha. we ate them almost as soon as they were out of the oven. they were delicious.
so yeah, thankful for cookies. washed down with a tall glass of cold milk.
yesterday, belly had her first dentist appt. she's always been pretty into brushing her teeth, and even likes flossing. (i broke it out one night when her toothbrush couldn't get the job done. the next night, she asks, can we floss again?)
anyway, as soon as we got to the office, the receptionist gave her a balloon and the hygentist showed her each of the tools she was going to use. after her cleaning (orange toothpaste) and fluoride treatment (grape flavored), she got to pick out a ton of prizes. as we were leaving, she goes, mommy, can we go back here?
went into the office today. whenever i do, it makes me so much happier when i get home and hug my babies.
which made tonight even more special, with all of us in one room, sleeping in one bed. it's been more than 6 months! as we were laying there, belly turned to bulilit, trying to put her to slee. she whispered, "close your eyes, good night. i love you very much." (just like what i say to her!) and then she started singing bulilit's preferred lullaby, happy birthday. (don't ask.)
on the way home from ami's house, belly asked me if we could make cupcakes when we got home. since traffic wasn't as bad as i was expecting, and we got home an hour before bedtime, i gave in.
letting the girls eat chocolate cupcakes minutes before bedtime = not a good mommy decision.
saturday: bro/sis in law taking kids with e to a street festival in dc so i could have some alone time. which is used to run some errands and get a pedi.
after kids go to bed, watching couples retreat. didn't get good reviews but e and i thought it was hilarious, especially since we've been married for 5 years.
sunday: brunch with cousins, with longsilog and tapsilog after many nights of sleeping at my parent's house, so happy to be sleeping in my own bed
stopped by the filipino store for some longanisa and tocino for a brunch with cousins tomorrow. as soon as i saw this in the freezer next to the meat, i couldn't resist:
i'm sick. i want to blame hot yoga, but i think it might be a combination of the cooler weather plus fall allergies plus lack of sleep. whatever it is, i'm now battling a cold. ugh.
so today, while working at my parents' house, i decided to go with my mom, who was visiting my grandma at the cemetery. after our visit, she treated me to pho to help me feel better. i remember hating pho as a kid, and my brother and i would whine when my parents decided that's where we would go for dinner. then, almost like a switch was flipped, i loved it. and there's nothing better when you have a cold. so thanks, mom.
while in nj, e made a pit stop (or two) at philippine bread house. YUM. waiting for me when i came down to the kitchen this morning was some super yummy ensaymada ube, plain ensaymada, hopia mongo and ube bread. man, i love me some purple yam.
breakfast of coffee and ensaymada ube? perfection.
hmm. i really am not good at this blogging thing, huh?
it's 10:30 and i'm exhausted. e's been away since saturday morning on a well-deserved trip up to NJ/NY to see some friends and hit up the jay-z/eminem concert tonight. being a single parent is no joke! i miss my husband!! even with the help of my parents... i totally salute all you single moms and dads out there. i don't know how you do it.
sunday morning, hs bestie and i took a bikram yoga class. keep in mind that, while i did take ballet classes for about 8 months in the past year, i haven't really stepped inside a gym / worked out in a very. long. time. i figured, hey, it's yoga, it can't be that bad. nevermind that the room is 105 degrees and there are like 50 people in the room with you. talk about body heat. let's just say that i'm thankful i didn't have a stroke or pass out while i was in there for 100 minutes. and i was thankful for the cold, nice-smelling towel they gave us at the end of class.
on saturday, i took the girls to wee play for their drop in open gym. too bad we got there 20 minutes before it was closing. the girls LOVED it and when we left, belly said, "mommy, i want to come back here another time with daddy." awww...
mommy lowlight of the weekend. i was putting the girls down for a nap and belly was screaming in my face. so i punished her. badly. when i left the room to calm myself down, i heard both girls quiet down and then peeked my head in and bulilit was doing all sorts of silly things to make her big sister laugh. just about broke my heart.
tonight, e and i went to dave & busters to celebrate my college bestie's 30th birthday. we had such a blast! it was nice to go out, just the 2 of us, for a sort of date night but also to celebrate one of the sweetest people i've ever known. on our way to D&B, e and i realized we couldn't remember the last time we'd gone out without leaving just after the kids go to bed (scratch that, we did remember. it was our anniversary last year, in vegas, with my mom watching the kids. at 9:30 she said, ok, no problem, stay out longer and have a late dinner with your brother and veh. at 9:45 she called back to ask, are you done yet? are you coming home now?) anyways ... so we did dinner with birthday girl, her husband and her friends then headed to the game area where e and i spent a few hours trying to best each other at various games. it was the most fun i've had with him in a long time. (ahem, i also kicked his ass in tekken. :) )
so not spaghetti-o's, but the kids DID love this spaghetti recipe i created the other night. and it only took about 40 minutes total to prep and cook. yes, another recipe. what can i say, i'm thankful for food. :)
Semi Healthy Spaghetti 1 package spaghetti noodles 1 Tbsp oil 1 small onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 lb ground turkey 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I used Prego Tomato & Basil) 16oz shredded Italian cheese 1 bag of frozen chopped spinach
Boil water for noodles. In a casserole pan that you can put in the oven, saute onions in hot oil until softened. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes, then add turkey. Cook until turkey is done, then add the pasta sauce. Add cooked noodles and coat with sauce. Add cheese and chopped spinach and mix until all incorporated.
Bake the casserole for 20 minutes. Serve with garlic bread.
has it really been this long? we're into a new month? oops. because i have so much to catch up on, welcome to a stream of consiousness post...
ETA (@11:55pm): i'm updating the blog from bed and belly just rolled over to me and says, "mommy. whaaaatcha doin?" (silence) "oh that's fun" (silence) "what's that?" all with her eyes closed. so she sleepwalks AND talks in her sleep. fabulous.
fun things from labor day weekend:
monday: lunch at jason's deli with my hungry girls, scarfing down their mac n cheese... enjoying the last day at the pool (for 30 minutes)... yummy chinese buffet at blue pearl in springfield...
sunday: clemyjontri park... girls entertaining each other in the car on the way over... girls' laughs=best sound ever... dinner at ruby tuesdays with my hungry girls who dance in the aisles, smile at the wait staff and other diners... bulilit waving bye to everyone when we leave
saturday: shopping at dulles town center... buying girls' new shoes... watching the carousel then giving in when belly asks me non-stop if she can ride... sitting on the too-fast carousel with bulilit and belly... ice cream and cookies for dessert, after the girls inhale a pizza
friday, 9/3: lunch with my hs bestie at noodles & co, catching up, making plans to work/study together now that i have a new nanny situation
wednesday, 9/1: hanging out with kim (ha! it's been forever since we used that nickname!!! and her sister was lea, as in lea salonga, and she was kim because that was lea's name in miss saigon), coming downstairs to the basement to see her and e, with buililt in e's arms, computers back to back battleship style. hilarious.
tuesday, 8/31: smarie and her mom over at the house to color my hair, gossip and catch up. i heart them ...
entire week of 8/30 - 9/3: feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as punky comes back to watch the kids. e coming home from work saying he likes seeing me happy and that i have so much less apparent stress already. and really appreciating my afternoons with both the kids and my husband when i've been away from them all day.
saturday, 8/27: yo gabba gabba live at nissan pavillion. (whatever, jiffy lube live. you will always be nissan pavillion)... running into a hs friend whose daughter is also super into YGG.
for those of you unfamiliar, allow me to introduce them:
pssst, i'd read down a few blog entries. didn't realize i had more than a few in draft mode so i just published them! :)
all in all, it was a really good weekend. on friday night, we stayed over at my parents so e and i could have a modified date night. we rented hot tub time machine and ate bad-for-you food from 7-11 (mmm, slurpees and white cheddar popcorn). ami was in the kitchen baking biscotti and the kids were sleeping in their beds (belly upstairs, bulilit in the basement). i later hear that ami was pulling the biscotti out of her oven when she looks over and sees belly standing in the kitchen. she rushes over, asks her why she's up, picks her up and carries her back to bed. belly immediately falls back asleep. yeah. she totally sleep walks. and apparently well enough not to fall down the staircase in a dark hallway. weird.
at church this morning, to keep bulilit busy, i handed her some crayons and a notebook. i now have a steno pad full of blue and yellow lines on every. single. page. and no worries, a few of the chairs, one of the kneelers and a bit of the floor of the cry room at church is decorated the same way. i'm sure they'll appreciate that.
tonight, as we were getting the kids ready to go home, we saw the neighbors out playing in the cul de sac. these are the kids who, when belly saw them biking one afternoon, asked me if she could go with them. anyways, e and i got to talking with the mom, as belly played with the almost 5 year old girl and bulilit chased after the 2 year old boy. fun times. it's so suburbia, but definitely one of the things i'm looking forward to when we eventually move to my parents' house.
today we went to the baltimore aquarium with all the kids. the mommies had been talking about it for a little bit and we decided the kids were old enough to appreciate it. so bright and early saturday morning, we packed up belly and bulilit to head to bmore and meet up with ballerina and her family as well as bear and his mommy.
all week, belly was excited about seeing the dolphins. practically the minute we walked in, she was chanting, 'dolphins, i want to see dolphins!' it was fun, though ... we got to see almost everything -- turtles, sting rays, sharks, puffins, jellyfish and yes, the dolphins. it was adorable seeing all 6 kids oohing and ahhing over things.
after we got back to my parents' house, the girls and i played rock band on the wii and then played outside. it was so nice sitting on the porch in the warm afternoon sun, feeling the slight breeze on my skin.
so last night, i was totally supposed to be getting a head start on some work so i could take off a couple hours early today but after putting belly down to bed, i ended up on the phone my with brother for at least an hour.
it was nice though ... ever since we grew out of the "you're my sibling and i don't like you" teenage phase, we've been able to talk and hang out. and now that he and his (new!) wife (yay sissy!) are all the way out on the west coast, it's even nicer to have conversations with him.
so i'm thankful for my brother and on wednesday night, i was SUPER thankful for my husband.
i had had enough of the kids and was literally at the edge of my sanity when e came home. he took one look at me and before he even had a chance to put his laptop bag down, i told him i needed to get out. he, of course, pushed me out the door and told me to take my time. after the usual drama and tears from belly -- and the complete opposite, aka nonchalance of bulilit -- i finally had some time to myself to get a couple errands done plus treat myself to a pedi. heavenly. :)
it's always a struggle to find something the kids will eat willingly. most nights, it's a battle of wills, to see who breaks first ... most nights, the kids win and i end up eating their leftovers (which is why i don't even make a plate for myself anymore; i just wait to see what's left of the kids' plates).
so when i find something that they eat and finish, i know it's a keeper. here's my recipe for chicken paprika, a staple in our house growing up. i've modified it a bit from how i remember my mom cooking it. serve it over warm rice ... mmm.
Chicken Paprika 4-5 chicken thighs, cut up 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 small onion, chopped 1 small bell pepper, chopped 1/2 c soy sauce 1/4 c water 2-3 Tbsp paprika pepper
Saute onions in oil until translucent. Add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add chicken; brown on both sides. Once browned, add soy sauce and water. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, mixing occasionally. Add paprika and pepper to taste, incorporate into sauce. Serve immediately.
headed to build-a-bear to celebrate cousin coco's 2nd birthday.
at the party, the BBW party leader asked each kid his or her name and if he/she knew how to spell it.
BBW party leader: what's your name? belly: "b-e-l-l-y, belly" BBW party leader: wow, spelling bee style!
bulilit, being herself, decided she didn't like her name tag sticker, tore it off and stuck it to me. when i put it back on her, she did it again. so i put it on her back.
the girls had so much fun, they were PASSED OUT in the car. thank you, and happy birthday coco!!
celebrated all the august fam birthdays today, at my grandparents' old apartment. whenever we're there, i always feel like my grandma is with us in spirit, partying it up with us. today, i really felt like she was watching over us, and i'm thankful for that.
belly wrote a book today. i folded a piece of paper for her and she scribbled on it for awhile, then announced she was going to read it to me.
the story goes...
"i love you mama forever. i love you daddy forever. i love you bulilit forever. i love you ami and grandpa forever. i love you nini and veh forever. i love you lolo and lola forever. the end." and then she says to me, "wasn't that a good story mommy?"
so we were at dinner tonight celebrating my grandfather's 81st birthday. we were going to let the girls have a turn at blowing out the candle. bulilit was sitting nicely (for once!) on my mom's lap, and belly was sitting next to them, not paying attention. we finished singing "happy birthday" and told bulilit to blow ... and she reaches over to her sister, calls her name, puts her arm around and her and pulls them both in toward the candle to blow. adorable!
sure, it was only for three mornings last week and she ran to the potty every 5 minutes because she thought she had to go, but she wore big girl underwear!! it was super cute watching her and bulilit switch back and forth on the potty. (because yes, bulilit is about 80% trained.)
however... since last week, no more underwear. a lot of it was me because we had places to go to where it was not convenient to run to the potty every 5 minutes. but it's belly too, going back to "i want to wear diapers!" so i try to get her on the potty whenever i think she's about to go, and it's worked two or three times (mostly before bed, go figure) but nothing consistent. it's utterly frustrating.
awful mommy confession time: even though i know it's necessary, i'm getting really sick of sitting with belly in the bathroom for 45+ minutes waiting for her to do something, anything on the potty. it invariably starts as, mommy my tummy hurts, i have to go! and i rush her to the potty and then ... nothing. we sit there. we read books. we play with the mirror. we look through the prize bag.
in fairness to belly, she does try. but she's so scared of going in her underwear that she'd rather sit on the potty for-e-ver than play in her underwear. and sometimes she actually DOES go, and we celebrate. and each time we go, i hope it's one of those times where she actually does go.
e is sooooo much more patient with the potty training than i am. he's on top of bulilit, watching for her signs and gets her to the potty as soon as she indicates she has to. he doesn't mind sitting with belly and encouraging her to try (maybe he does mind, but he never lets me know). maybe i should just leave the potty training to him.
so august is the big birthday month in our family (though there are definitely other months gaining on that status as our extended family gets bigger!). which means parties galore. we were at a fam party on saturday night and -- i say it all the time -- i love fam parties. for the simple fact that i don't have to watch my kids at a fam party. there is a plethora of other, eager relatives who would much rather play with/feed my kids than do anything else (btw, thanks for that fam!). which also means that e and i actually get to enjoy a meal without chasing after toddlers and we get to have conversations with other people. novel, i tell ya.
when we got home after the party -- way past bedtime but i'm learning to control my sleep nazi ways -- i was putting belly to bed and the girl would not. shut. up. about the party.
"mommy, i had fun at smarie's house. i was sitting with smarie and she uppied me so i could see the cake and, and, and, bear was with mita, cuz mita uppied bear so he could blow the cake, and then i was playing with daddy and ballerina and then bear and i were running around and then smarie gave me her silly bandz, look! i have dinosaurs! and i gave my silly bands to smarie, a octopus and a fishy, and then i ate with punky, and i looooovvvvveeee smarie." (names have been changed to protect the innocent. or rather, nicknames have been used, as per usual.)
and now a break from your regularly scheduled programming... as well-intentioned as this blog may be, i don't want to pretend that it's all sunshine and roses in my life. oh no, there is a TON that annoys me/frustrates me/upsets me (and in all honesty, it usually goes in my other, private blog). so just to break up the monotony of the uplifting/hilarious/thoughtful posts, here are the top ten things that ruffle my feathers (in no particular order):
-making kids evil in films/tv. kids are supposed to be innocent!
-heading out on an errand, starting the car and finding the gas light on.
-when the dvr cuts the last 5 minutes of a show.
-people who make accusations without any basis.
-chewing with your mouth open.
-people who take up 2 parking spaces.
-drivers who don't turn right on red.
-when people confuse you're and your.
-fingernails across a chalkboard.
-not realizing there's no more toilet paper until it's too late.
now that i've gotten that off my chest, back to the program!
so smarie once told me she had a theory that ipod touches are cursed. apparently everyone she knows who has a touch has either had it stolen or lost it. and that's definitely been true for us. i've killed two touches already and e can't find his.
UPDATE! i found e's touch in my work backpack. still trying to figure out how it got there. AND, i'm planning to get the new iPod touch (4th gen?) using some bonus points i got from work. hope this one doesn't meet the same fate as my last two!!
i'm doing to belly exactly what i hated my mom doing to me when i was growing up... asking her to look out for her sister, help me keep bulilit busy while i'm busy doing something else, get something for bulilit because i'm in the middle of something and can't get to it right then. the list goes on.
when i was a kid, when all the cousins would hang out, my mom would make me the responsible one. "watch out for the others!" she would say. and i always blamed that as the reason i "drifted further" earlier than the rest of them (nevermind that i was between 3-5 years older so it probably made sense that i would have different interests before they would). looking back, i don't resent it now as much as i thought i did back then.
but now i catch myself doing exactly the same thing to belly. i guess it's a hazard of being a first-born (girl, especially), since i can't do everything myself and when it's just the 3 of us here at home, i need an extra pair of hands and belly's always been the first to volunteer to help. yes, even at the age of 2 and 3! maybe it's just in her personality... i always say that my two kids are like night and day when it comes to how they are! clean/messy, emotional/lets things roll off her back, cautious/adventurous.
so today, i'm thankful for belly and her big sister attitude--willing to always help me out with her sister! also thankful that bulilit was not a handful today and they both played very well together with very few fights and tears! definitely made the day a lot easier for mommy.
we've been staying at moms a lot the past week. i took the kids here twice last week so e could get some sleep and try to recover from the awful virus we both had. then we spent most of the weekend here, just because. as much as i miss my own bed, i like staying here because it means i get to sleep next to my husband and cuddle with bulilit. as much as i love sleeping with belly, i miss my baby, and most of all, i miss my husband.
bulilit and i got into it today. first, after fighting with her for half an hour while i tried to put her down for a nap, i finally just laid her on the bed and gave her milk. she turned her back to me and drank her bottle. when she was done, she stuck it up in the air without turning around. not even 5 minutes after taking the bottle from her, she was fast asleep without one more glance in my direction. take that, mommy.
after her nap, she wasn't listening to her ami about putting her shorts on so she could play outside, so i started scolding her, complete with pointed finger and everything. she plops down on the floor, looks up and me, points her finger and "scolds" me back, in her gibberish. my mom, my aunt and i all tried desperately to hide our laughter (i had to pull my shirt over my head so buililit wouldn't see me laughing my ass off). i managed to compose myself and walked her right into the corner.
my ninang is visiting from the philippines. as always, she asks us for our "orders" months in advance. i never really know what to ask for, since it's been so long since i've been to manila (6 years and counting!). so i usually end up trolling the internet for things to ask for that's distinctly filipino. and this year, i came upon this:
michelle's homemade puto. ninang got me the ube/pandan box and it's so freaking yummy. i can't decide which one i like better. a few seconds in the microwave to make them all warm, soft and steamy .... mmmmm. i think i finished off the whole box in 2 days. highly, highly recommended.
sooooo i was supposed to be partying it up with some hot mamas tonight (DC! drinking! kid-free!) but what am i doing instead? working. on proofing a 277 page award application, with edits due by 9am tomorrow (that would be saturday). FML.
spent the day at doctors offices today ... belly & bulilit had their regular check ups today. belly's is like a REAL check up, with the nurse checking her blood pressure, eyesight and everything! gone are the days when she would sit on the baby scale to be weighed. when it was bulilit's turn, we plopped her down on the scale, all naked except her diaper, and she looked at us and grinned. it was hilarious. for being 20 months younger than her sister, bulilit is only 9lbs lighter and 3 inches shorter. craziness.
then in the afternoon, the achy/awful feeling e and i have been experiencing since yesterday finally got bad enough that i decided we should go to urgent care. in a span of 4 hours, we were seen by a doctor, drove to the hospital to get blood drawn, returned to urgent care and finally went home to wait for results. luckily, everything is good, just a viral infection of some sort that has to pass through our systems. as we walked toward the hospital, e and i reminisced on the last time we were there, bringing bulilit into this world. later, as we sat in the waiting area outside the lab, i turned to my husband and said, "i know this sounds weird, but i'm really happy that we're here together." because he and i never seem to have alone time with nothing to do -- even on date nights or dinner, i always feel like we're rushing to get back to the kids -- and having to do nothing but wait while people try to figure out what's wrong with us was kind of nice.
oh! and thankful that my mom jumped in at the last minute to come and stay with the kids while we were getting checked out!
still trying to recover from the craziness that was vanessa + ian's wedding weekend. will def have to write about that when i'm not falling asleep every ten minutes.
sis2be and mom watched the kids (after we put them to bed) so e and i could go out to celebrate his birthday, just the two of us. we went to coastal flats and had a delicious dinner, good conversation and much needed time to ourselves.
woo hoo!! brother and sis2be will be married on saturday!! and to celebrate, i took the whole week off work which means i can finally make a dent in my personal to-do list. first on the list, updating the blog. :) soooo, go on and scroll down. i finally finished some of my draft posts from the past month and published them, so new entries are sprinkled throughout june. happy reading!
happy happy 30th birthday to my sweet husband!! spent the weekend in NJ with a few of his friends and then headed up to citifield to see it for the first time. the mets even helped him celebrate by hitting a home run. love the apple!! belly was sad though that she didn't get to see mr. met. that's all she was asking for the entire time we were at the stadium.
we celebrated with e's family on friday night with a delicious chinese dinner, then with my family tonight, at red robin. kids provided the entertainment, as per usual! i think when all was said and done, e had a good time! (and now i'm not the only one in my thirties anymore. ha.)
e decided he wanted to have people over -- and after realizing last july 4th how awesome our house is in terms of watching fireworks displays, i was totally on board.
in the afternoon, we took the kids to the mall for a little indoor playground action (it is just too hot to be doing anything outdoors). as we walked past abercrombie & fitch, with their music blaring out the door, bulilit decided she wanted to jam to the music. so she stops and starts bouncing her little butt in time to the beat. so adorable! and i totally caught a bunch of passers-by who looked at her and smiled.
after a delicious grilled feast, we took blankets out to the playground/field behind our house and watched the fireworks display from our local high school. belly and bear were out there, watching in awe, 'ooh-ing and ahh-ing' over the fireworks. e and i just smiled at each other.
sooooo about a week ago i promised "a flurry of activity" and new blog posts to recap the awesomeness that was the first part of june. ahem. so didn't happen. reminds me of e's witty little comment (*cue eyeroll here*): "You know what else is MIA? Your blog."
anyways, discovered that i had a draft post that never was published because it's woefully incomplete. so here it is, in all its random, jot-things-down-while-i'm-thinking-of-it glory.
Me: "Maddy, Who's that?" (Pointing to Ami). Maddy (clear as a bell): "I don't know" More fun things that I'm thankful for / still need to blog about:
belly's THIRD birthday!!
dinner with ana
patron
sitting on the beach (not so much the burning and peeling)
drunk on the airplane
family gatherings - baptisms and birthdays
belly randomly shouting around the house, "I'm the Queen!"
belly's birthday wishlist: a mic, a tray, a new puzzle and an iphone
i'm exhausted... can't do many more of these late nights... feels like i'm in college again... too much work to do, not enough time to do it ... slave driving managers ... want something now, this is an emergency! ... my "normal" now is to work 9-5:30, make dinner/play with kids/put kids to bed until 8, then back to work from 8-2a... when will it end?
then this conversation ensues: b: mommy are you tired? m: mmm hmmm. b: are you really really really really really tired? m: yes. b: but you have to work. m: no it's ok. b: but you have to, ok? because you have a lot of work. m: but i'm tired. b: but you have to work so you can get money.
it's my usual type of post... kid things that happened today.
1. belly wakes up from her nap, looks up at me, smiles and says, "i had a good nap."
2. belly, bulilit and nanny are watching tv in the basement, i'm sitting in the dining room doing work slash having lunch. i hear: belly: it's pocoyo! nanny: what? who? b: i think it's pocoyo!! mommy: pocoyo?? what channel is he on? b: nick jr!
(is it totally wrong that i am super excited about pocoyo being on nick jr.? if you have no idea what i'm talking about, check him out. ah-dor-able and so catchy.)
3. e is out at a baseball game, so i get the kids situated and belly helps me cook dinner of homemade chicken tenders and pancakes. (can you tell she helped with the menu?) anyway, we are sitting at her new princess table (thanks pinky!) and chowing down. bulilit starts saying, "dada" so belly proceeds to go through the (short) list of words that bulilit knows.
belly: say, dada. bulilit: dada. b1: say mama. b2: mama. b1: say more. b2: moooooor (at least that's what it sounds like). b1: say doggie. b2: WOOF-WOOF!
4. but of course, the evening could not end there. belly decided she didn't like having to sleep in the basement and would not sleep. awake babies + no daddy at home = mommy not being able to do her nightly ritual of cleaning up the house and catching up on work (because it's absolute hell with work right now). cue yelling match slash crying with a sprinkle of screams (and, um, spanks) for good measure. 2 hours after belly finally, FINALLY goes to sleep, bulilit wakes up and is yelling something fierce. SIGH. (i'm going to go hide in a corner now.)
soooooooo it's now 2:10 am and i think i am finally ready to go to bed. wonder if it will be a peaceful night ...
ahh, blog, how i've neglected you. as a lifelong procrastinator, i have many excuses prepared ...
My reasons for not updating in almost 3 weeks: -post miami funk -prepping for e's trip to vegas -absolute insanity at work -belly's 3rd birthday -continued insanity at work
so you see i haven't been purposely ignoring my blog! i always want to write a little something after belly and bulilit go to bed, but there's a kitchen to be cleaned, work to be done, showers to be had... it's quite frustrating really.
but through these past 18 days, i have many, many things to be thankful for... an unbelievable bachelorette party for my sis2be in miami, a husband who loves his wife and kids, fun family times and most of all, my eldest child's THIRD birthday.
ANYWAYS ... this is just a quick post to explain my absence. in the meantime, just to jazz it up, i've switched the design of the blog (this just seems more cheery!) to celebrate the first day of summer. rest assured, i have a few draft posts i just need to polish and then there will be a flurry of postings in the next few days. promise!
gray pants: $20
black button down long sleeve blouse: $20
