Rochelle and Nick's Ohana

A View From the past

2010-01-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

Amoeba records Los Angeles New years

Pasadena, California

Tournament of Roses

Pasadena "Tournament of Roses" Floats

Like in the "Bee Movie"

family

DAVID~TIFFANY~NICK~ME~DAVID~JON

Can you believe these floats are made From

Flowers and plants?? Even Crazier in person

This year I thought..."my one new year's resolutions is focusing on weeding out all , well most of my procrastination"... I need to seriously get organized, with our growing family, I find myself collecting tons of memories and tons of pictures....Months later, I find that missing photo or missing paper, or toy or something important, and say "there it is?!", but by then it's been too long that I don't need it for the purpose I intended for it in the first place. So, to start off. I'm organizing our memories, the photos, the collected movie tickets, greeting cards, birthday decorations..that love to collect (in ziplocks) ...This blog contains photos of New Years 2009 yup a year later, but what the heck.. weeding out starts here!!

I really miss my children

2009-07-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

With me counting down the days it has been 16 days since I've seen my Lailie girl and Seth, and I don't even know when they're going to come back. I was supposed to go up to San Jose to get them, but unfortunatly my mom decided to have them come here with their "Uncle Jon"...I really miss them, especially because of my older post, now with just my sister who is 13 watching them, anything can happen... and before I left Lailie bumped her front tooth on Tiffany's head,. and I thought it damaged the nerve. Well , I was right, and now it's turning grey, my poor baby I can't be there to take her to the dentist. Luckily my brother is, but I feel horrible that I can't hold her hand or tell her it's gonna be okay.

"tear" I really want them to be with their grandparents, and aunts cousins and uncles up there, but I just dread the days they really need me and I can't be there, every time I talk to Lailie on the phone she sounds so sad...her words yesterday were "are you still on the plane mommy?"
It made me cry because she thinks I'm still "on my way there".. She's waiting for me, maybe to come through that door or pick me up at the airport like I promised before I left...and Seth's having a blast, but i know he misses me too because he too is counting down the days, that made me smile..But I was hoping I could go there and pick them up for a better transition, so I can ride ride the plane and say bye to everyone with them, I didn't get to really say goodbye last time cause I thought I was coming back.. but unfortunately too, at these heavy times in my my life my mom and I are are at bad terms. And she's punishing me by playing these games and holding her grudges...

I guess when it rains it pours, to be truthful ..because I'm gone for so long every few months or so, it has really taken a toll on my marriage, we just don't know each other anymore. Our trust for each other is completely gone...and it feels like because we let "weeds" grow in our garden, metaphorically speaking for fights that we don't pull by the root and just let them go...we have a lot of gardening to do, sort of speaking, and it's a lot of labor and hard work, alot of blood sweat and tears..... I have to make some sacrifices to be the wife I promised to be 5 years ago. So that I could get back I husband Nick promised to be that long ago. Living sort of separate lives, we are learning to start over, which means me mainly, being here more often, him putting me fisrt before his friends and us only going places with each other....Which is the main reason my mom and I aren't talking...But hopefully no matter what we're going through right now, I hope it all irons out in the end..

Nick and I have realized some things, after getting it all out...and I'm glad to say that God gave us these trials to make us learn how to love eachother more, and how to live our lives better..
Sigh, I just miss my Lailie and Seth ..... Just thinking about life turning events, make me want to savor every bit of this life God has given me to live..and I can't do it with them there and me here, But I am using this useful time to give my Iliana lots of love... and hopefully in time use this time to get to know my husband a bit more..

counting down those days!! maybe 20 more....

Greatest Commandment"Love One Another"

2009-07-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

With a heavy heart today, my dentist, Dr. Annalee Kruyer and her husband Paul wrote to me to tell me they lost their two year old daughter Lysha today at 5:30 pm drowning while swimming with her sister.

We are great fully mourning their loss at this time. With this and with Sherman, our good friend from church who got Nick his job, who is currently paralyzed, and our dear friend George who passed a little over a year ago...It made me realize how short life is, and that God is watching... Unfortunately God giveth and taketh away and we all have to realize that life's too short for grudges, anger, "I'll do it tomorrow's" and "may be next times"

With this said, I hope everyone out there will open their eyes to see that all we need to do is forgive and love, hold things loosely, hold on tight to faith and let go of doubts....We have to face this world with uncertainty, I know...but as life goes, you'll never know what's around the corner(Good or Bad) But even with uncertainties, all we have is knowing we lived this life right,so from today on, I pray that everyone who reads this can have a greater outlook on life, on love and on GOD.. God is real, and this world is his, it is him who decided to make this world and what happens inside it.. it is him who knows the moment we are born and the moment we leave this earth., we have to Fear God (in a good way) and know that we are here temporarily and the people that cross our paths are for a reason and things that happen are for a reason. and that our lives are for the reason that only God knows the answers to all our "why's", Like in the movie "not easily broken" (which btw every couple should watch) it says when something is made, the "thing" that is made doesn't know it's true purpose, only the manufacturer, the person who made it knows it's true intentions and purpose for making that "thing" and that's who were are, we are our manufacturer's purpose. Only God knows why he made you, all he asks is you live up to his purpose, whatever your purpose may be and what ever role you take on. Play it well......

I know my eyes are open..are yours?

Happy Birthday Iliana

2009-06-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

(lyrics) But it's what we wish for our baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!

May the sunlight find your face Even when the rain does fall And get back on your feet again Every time you slip and fall Keep your heart wide open And always taking in And even when it's broken Be strong enough to fix it up again Oh little baby girl Sweet little baby girl I wish I could hold your hand in this great big worldOh little baby girl And I hope your hands are steady And never need to make a fist And I hope that when you're ready You get one never ending kiss And I hope that deep inside of you There's a sweet eternal song And I hope the words are pretty And that you'll always sing along And I hope your friends are many And your laughter's always loud To help you when you're lonely And pick you up when you're down I hope your eyes shine bright love And learn to see the light Take the time to listen Decide yourself what's wrong or right Oh little baby girl Sweet little baby girl Be strong in this great big world Oh little baby girl

It just seems like yesterday that I was in our bedroom in our new home tossing and turning at 2 am in the morning, then sending my husband to work at 5 am and jumping in the shower at 6 am with my water bag leaking, and calling my husband to come home. Seems like yesterday I was in the bathroom on my knees waiting to push this beautiful baby out, by 7am of what seems like yesterday, I remember Nick flying through the door to get my suitcase and dress the children, getting them ready to put them in the car, forgetting to put on a shirt and helping me as I sacrificially went down the stairs to beat this baby from coming out too soon... I remember it seemed like yesterday that I was looking into my husband's eyes with pain and worry as he sped through cars and went off road to get me to the hospital quickly, coaching me on how to breathe, as Iliana's head popped out mid way...... that day...June 18th, 2008 was the happiest day of our lives, we thought that each time we had our babies that it was the happiest day of our lives, but what we didn't realize is how much more love and happiness we could fill our hearts with each time afterwards, especially on that day!!!...I remember my husband yelling to the nurses as he put the car in park, and as the nurse went to get help I remember my husband coaches me as I tell him I have to push, within that (what seemed like only a second), it was just him and I against the world ..Just my husband and I birthing, delivering and saving our little unborn daughter, with just one push our soon to be Iliana slid out into my husband's warm hands and took her first breath of air as I heard her first cry which is every mother's dream to hear, With the first words from my husband being "I'm sorry" (for not making it ) as tears ran down his face, sobbing in laughter and joy like I've never heard before and my face in shock and exhaustion...that day our Iliana Kailani was our miracle baby and was delivered by her own daddy...That's a story we get to tell on her wedding day...It's been a year since then, and Nick and I still fill up with joy and tears when we tell that story to the world, I get so excited of that moment that only Nick and I can ever really know what it felt like to bring a baby in the world in such an inspiring and unique way...It saddens me to think that she may be our last one, which is maybe why I am a bit sad in know our baby girl isn't so much an infant anymore, she's independent ready for the world, and all I want is to feel her fluttering kicks in my belly again and to remember the feeling of anticipation when I found that I was pregnant for the third time, wondering who this little one is going to be....But I am more glad that God has given her her first year of life, to see her growing, watch her milestones as they come on time, like her first smile, her first word, walking, growing teeth, and living up to her nickname "Silly Illi" She really is our silly girl..and God couldn't have blessed me more... I am so blessed to have a husband I could share these memories with, a beautiful son who can be a great brother to Iliana, and a beautiful daughter, who will be Iliana's best friend.. Keep on growing Iliana, may God bless you and us more with many more years to come to get to watch you grow.. we love you so much my love, and happy birthday baby girl!

Chillin on a Sunday Afternoon

2009-06-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

Leaving Chili's I don't recall it being this windy? hmm?

Iliana and her Big Opu after Eating at Chili's

Lailie's full off Chili's too! "Food make me Strong"

they were so amazed by this contraption

Iliana caught thumb sucking

Yay Free Newspapers, and coupons

Cuties

They look like Daddy in these hats

Watching the cars go by on the walk way

This past Sunday we missed Church because we woke up a little late, but e got ready and tried to make it to the one here on the south side instead of driving all the way to Henderson. But we got lost and my GPS on my phone was off because t-mobile shut our service off, yup forgot to pay the bill, so I paid it was we were driving and getting lost..But we gave up after tedious turns and circles we were making around blue diamond and Jones, which has no way across east or west! Because of that overpass they're building, oh yeah and if that wasn't bad enough, for a moment as we were driving we had our hopes up and thought we found the right place...Unfortunately it was a middle school.. We were kinda bummed...But we'll try again this Sunday.. Anyways, I had 2 free tickets to the Home Expo I wanted to go and see if we could win prizes, but I thought i threw it away, so I went to a chevron to see if they had Saturday's paper, and they didn't so we decided to eat, we ate at Chili's and it was fun..The kids actually ate all their food, Lailie ordered pizza, although she ate most of my ribs instead, Seth had mac n cheese his favorite, and Nick had steak and salmon, guess he's craving omega 3's...Behind me there was this beautiful baby named London she was play with Lailie and her mom and Dad were talking to Nick and I, they we're so young ..Like us when we started...with a second one one the way..It was so fun and nice talking to them, I wished we had exchanged numbers now that I think about it, I could have invited them to our church.. Next time hopefully we'll meet again.. So after we got in the car you could tell Nick was ready to take a nap, but guess what..the tickets were in my purse, so being the great sport he always is for me, we went... We had free parking and tickets..The perks we got out of it was a cleaning deal for our floors and garage, candy, free newspapers, and putting our names in for prizes...there was this thing where it was blowing money around and if you guess it right you got to have it..Well, I guessed $187 and the actual # was $183...I was $4 dollars off from having that money...Oh well, Nick won the contest for a daily drawing but to claim the prize of course you had to be a homeowner, oh well... regardless, we had a great time!!!

Secret Finally Revealed!!

2009-05-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been indulging in Victoria's secret since I was like born!! ha ha. But what woman doesn't... Since who knows, I've bought lotions, make-up, panties, and all that good stuff since high school. But living in Hawaii with no Victoria's Secret, I stopped buying VS stuff besides lotions my mom would send me..Mostly I have never bought myself a Victoria's secret bra until my sister gave me the $100 dollar gift card for Christmas and some "PINK" black and gold panties which were sooo comfortable and yummy...I'm so broke, but thanks to my mom and sister over the years I have collected lotions..panties and make-up...But the first purchase I made with my sister's gift card were 2 beautiful bras that were on sale for $20 each...one a black and cream laced, and one lavender and purple lacy one, which my sister's help me pick out back home... I don't care what men's interpretations are about lingerie because I solely love it for the fact it looks good, fits right and makes me feel great, although the look on Nick's face is one adored my me when I got his eyes fixed on my "Victoria's secret" ...So on mother's day in LA we stopped by Del Amo mall cause I had a $10 gift card, and I indulged myself in buying my third bra...It was the miracle bra in "hot pink" It's gorgeous and makes me feel gorgeous and my clothes look better, but this bra was $50 bucks (without tax) And I had to buy it in Cali with a higher tax, err...and on top of that I just found out the bra I bought is on sale right now for $25 bucks online..errrr..BUt I only paid $9.00 for that bra anyways,with the gift card and my sister's gift card which is now all gone from the things I've bought..loke a nightie and some hair products. The reason for this blog is that recently I checked my email and there was a 40% off clearance sale so I bought a white halter dress (for Hawaii) if we go, and it was only $14.99 with the sale plus shipping.. I've tried to get a credit card with Victoria's Secret before but got denied, this time online they asked me again at checkout and I was all "what the heck" ..why not?, if I don't have to pay now.. (I think that movie YES MAN is getting the best of me) cause I've been saying yes to a lot these days...Anyway, as I twiddled my thumbs awaiting at the edge of my seat and watched that 30 second timer go round and round looking at the blinking "your decision will be announced shortly" ....Low and behold I was approved!!! yeah I know credit cards aren't the greatest to get excited over cause of the fees it can some with, but this one is well worth getting excited over cause I'm a sucker for their stuff and If I could get it now and pay later it's even better, plus with the angel's card I already got major coupons, a few $10 off a $10 purchase aka FREE..and free panties, free this and that with purchase..And you know me and coupons!! So tomorrow, while their semi-annual sale has just begun, I'll be shopping at VS for more panties, they're like 3.00 each right now online, but out of my size.. Plus I'm curious to see what good deals they have, my mom once got me and Chas a $45 make up set for like $10 bucks, a few years back .. I am so excited to be "an Angel" exclusive... and my sister 's also "an angel" but now she doesn't have to keep spending money on me, cause I got my own, but thanks Chas for all the VS you've gotten me over the years and now I can return the favor :) I have buying power at my favorite store...slap this smile off my face! Not..ahh, Let me soak it in...yeahhhh

As Sneak Peek at Out Disneyland Trip!!

2009-05-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

There are so many photos to choose from it's taking a while....So I decided to break up the posts and do sneak peeks of our Trip... (:( something in the uploading process to photobucket made them blurry, so the real photos are going into a scrapbook but hope you can enjoy it!)

But First we'd Like to Thank God for Blessing Us with this Opportunity of a Lifetime, When we rented the van we thought we were going to get a Kia and it was small, with God's grace we were blessed with a nice lady downstairs when I picked up the van and Got a new Toyota Sienna with automatic doors and everything, I even got to Pick the color which was a Deep Shiny Blue, my favorite..It goes to show that it's God that pulls strings for you if you are faithful to him, knowing this, it started off our trip with a bang, and I'd Like to Thank my mom and dad and sister for some much needed spending money for the trip, and to Auntie Almer and family for their generosity..Without my family this wouldn't have been able to happen and I'm so glad we got to reap the benefits of my family who is and always has been so generous to us, thank you guys from our hearts for making Seth's Birthday Really Special!! We can always count on you!!

To The "Happiest Place on Earth"

Us Being Sad at the "Happiest Place on Earth"

Yup we're being sarcastic

"You have reached your Destination"

It began on that sunny Saturday of May 9th, We we were so excited to get to continue the celebration of Seth's big 5th Birthday!!!I can't believe his first 5 years have already gone by!!...That day we got up kinda late , we anticipated being at Disney as soon as it opened at 8 am..But since we were 40 minutes away, Iliana burned her hand on my hair straightener and got a second degree burn we got to Disneyland at noon...But Disneyland closed at midnight so we still had a full 12 hour which was Plenty!!

They have no idea, what kind of fun they're about to have and see

"We're so Lucky"

Setting up, he's so excited with his Pirate ears!

Perfect to go With his Pirate Party

We're here!

Daddy was a kid again!!

We parked separate from the parking garage we parked at last time when we went 2 years ago with Seth..and my whole family, but it was alright cause the kids got to ride in an awesome bus..The kinds of buses I used to take field trips in as a kid in Cali cause everything was so far, we had decked out "greyhound type buses" Anyhow, when we reached the gate we already had our Tickets because my auntie and uncle bought our passes for us, so all we had to do was walk in, surprisingly we got to take in our cooler which has sandwiches, snacks and drinks my aunt packed for us (thanks auntie Almer) We still ate a little at Disneyland but it saved us when the kids got hungry in between! when we got inside, we rented a locker for $7 bucks (eek) but we got our rent-a-stroller for free..(shh..) so it worked out well... The first stop was Adventure land..(and a potty break) We got on the jungle boat ride first, there were no lines and the kids loved it cause there we're animals that looked real and hilarious antics throughout the swamp..like jumping piranhas (fake of course) Elephants taking a bath, and jungle people climbing a tree from a bear..too funny...Seth saw this last time, but this was the first time he remembers...The second stop was The Tarzan tree, which we were all new to, since last time we thought it was just a play place for kids, turns out it is also a beautiful view for us! We got down and played for a while and decided to move on to "The Pirates of the Caribbean" ride which was totally redone, meaning we missed it last time because last time it was the grand opening of the renovated ride and it was a 3 hour wait..boo..we we're pretty much already leaving by then...So This Time we decided that it was going to be one of our first rides there!

Our First Family Picture at Disneyland!!

They Were so happy to be here

My Girls!

Lailie scared of the animals and fake Jungle people

Iliana blowing raspberries (she always did this near water)

At the gift shop full of Pirate Treasures

Seth and the "shrunken head"

Very Strange

Our version of our own Tarzan

At the "Tarzan Tree"

Making Music

at the top of the tree

We decided to skip "Indiana Jones" Since none of our kids could go, and we felt bad "child swapping" on this ride since the kids would be in line for nothing..Plus, Nick and I rode it last time(yes, I was 2 months pregnant with Lailie) But it's just like a car ride..Anyway, in the Pirates of the Caribbean, Iliana held on to me so tight, it was her very first ride and Lailie's too.. It was dark and Iliana would have fell asleep if I was feeding her.. Lailie and Seth loved the scary silly pirates shooting their guns, drinking their booze and chasing after pirates...It was awesome to see the huge difference in animation! Jack Sparrow really looked like Johnny Depp! What an Awesome ride, It was so cool in there it was nice getting out of the sun and the kids were such troopers and came out excited for more!!....See the next post..Stick back for more!!

On the Pirates Ride (shh wasn't supposed to take flash photos oops)

Jack Sparrow Livin it up!

daddy having fun at the thought of his children

getting freaked out, Look at Lailie....

poor baby, it was funny though

Even Ili knew this place was gonna be spooky,

how cute is that? my baby knowing how to grab me in fear..I love it!

My plant grew another 4 inches in 2 days!!

2009-05-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

I can't wait till they start blooming, I am so amazed at how fast they're growing, as you can tell from the other post..Look at how much Bigger it got..Ili wants to "nom nom nom" it

Golfland

2009-05-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Tiffany sitting pretty

What we call karate golf hiyaaa!

Tiffany taking score
(what every girl grows up doing as a woman) haha

Illi's First Golfing Lesson

Wilson and Chastity and their White Ball

Iliana and her red Ball

Lailie and her Pink Ball

Zaiden singing his heart out while lailie Picks her nose and Seth unties the rope

Tired Out! but having a Ball!! (haha)

plethora of Colorful Balls

The Four Of Them!

Our Boys!

After my grandparents left, a few days before we were going back to vegas..My sisters and I decided to go to Golfland, we used to go here as little kids and it was so weird seeing us here with our kids, but fun at the same time...I've not particularly been to this Golfland, so I liked being all new at everything! it was the one in blossom hill..We played 18 holes, it was fun and the tough thing was getting all three kids to concentrate on getting their balls in the holes (haha) and pushing Iliana in her stroller around hills..With Nick it would have been easier, but luckily Wilson was there to help manuver the stroller uphill and watch the kids, Tiffany, Chas and I had so much fun, Wil's youngest brother also came to play!! it took almost two hours and when we were done, we played in the arcade then took the kids to the food court across the street at Oakridge mall.. what a fun day, I miss hanging with my sisters, and getting to see my nephew and my kids hang out, but I'm fortunante enough, as far as they live, to get to see them every few months out of a year, what a blessing! Nick and I have yet to go take our kids golfing together..maybe next week!!

Easter at Lake Las Vegas, a family tradition

2009-05-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty much our family tradition to go to Lake Las Vegas every Year during Easter..The first year was in 2005 Seth was about to turn one, and we took him here to Easter hunt and missed it, but he just learned to walk so we took pictures of him in the gardens and of him meeting the Easter bunny..In 2006 we spent Easter in San Jose and went to Sacramento to visit my aunt to have an Easter Egg hunt, 2007 we had Easter at Lake Las Vegas again with Uncle Leevi, Lailie was one, an we missed the Egg hunt cause of church, and I think we went to an Easter picnic with my sister in law's family..And in 2008 we had Easter at the Lake again, and I was pregnant with Iliana, we took the boat ride we took the first time we came and the kids got to feel the breeze and see the water, and we also went to Town Square to hunt eggs...and this year we missed Easter with Zach and Lauren so we decided to go to Lake las Vegas and missed the Easter egg hunt in Lake Las Vegas too by 8 seconds...But hey, we're getting closer..this year at the lake they didn't have the petting zoo or the horses to ride, which was okay with me cause I didn't bring any hand sanitizer with me...Nonetheless, we had tons of fun watching the kids run around and eat ice cream, and meet the Easter Bunny..Seth was feeling very sick and threw up so we didn't do too much and decided not to go on a boat ride that might make him nauseous..So we went home to open Easter baskets..Hopefully next Year we'll make an easter hunt and get tons of eggs, I'm sure we'll hit this place again...I love how it has become our family tradition, without any planning...It's something we hope our kids can look back on and say hey, mom and dad took us here every easter...how nice!

upcoming posts to look forward to ahead

2009-05-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

I'm so busy planning Ili's birthday, making invitations, cleaning house, having 1 on 1 time with the kids and husband...I have no time to sit here and blog especially when pictures take years instead of lightyears to load uh.... but when I do end up catching up, hopefully it'll all pay off....

* Disneyland Trip
*Seth's pirate party
*Family Time with my Family in San Jose
*Seth's 5 years growing up
*Hiking at Exploration peak
*Kid's Mix with 94.1 on Saturday
*Iliana beginning to walk

My plumeria tree Bloomed this weekend!!!

2009-05-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

I got this plumeria plant back last winter from a man in North las vegas who was giving it away on craigslist, I told Nick to go get it and I said what the heck, I've always wanted a plumeria plant/ tree cause it reminds me of back home! Nick used to pick plumeria flowers and I used to put them in my hair, that was his way of buying me flowers then...I was thinking of getting Lailie into a halau..Since I was in halau kawailehua in san jose, I used to dance.. I want my daughters to carry on and do the same, and maybe Seth could be a sexy drummer.. haha nah, he can do his break dancing like Nick wants for him.. But I soon wanted to take their pictures hawaiian style for Iliana's 1st birthday..I'm ordering leis and hula skirts from my grandma, It would be so nice to get to pick real plumerias and put them in their hair for the photos, I thought to myself, because this tree stayed dormant for so long it was a dead one...Until Friday!! it started to bud...green buds came sprouting out then my morning today, the leaves sprouted out and became huge! In two days, my plant came to life "It's ALIVE muah ha hah! (had to do it) haha ...anyhow, I am so thrilled that my watering and patience has paid off, and soon we'll have fragrant flowers that we get to make leis with and wear in our hair, maybe not in time for our photo shoot but in time for summer!! I wonder what color the flowers are! How cute will my babies be with those flowers in their hair...And the smell, oh i miss the smell, it'll bring back those fond memories!

5 Reasons Why I love Costco

2009-05-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

1. I save when they have coupons that no store can beat. i.e yesterday I bought a few things but the things I bought that had coupons were Clorox 2 (can't live without it) which were 10.99 for the big one but it was 2.00 off with the coupon, and came out to $9 dollars where as wal-mart has theirs for $17.00 or more, also the dove shampoo I bought last week (the big kind) yeah less than $5 bucks with the coupon, normally if you were to buy that much at wal-mart even with a coupon it'd be $14.00 bucks or more

2. Samples...there's nothing like a Sunday after Church following a Costco shop fest...which includes googling at new products, saving on necessities, and did I mention SAMPLING new foods! Instead of taking the kids out to eat we walk around wal-mart sampling pastas, crackers with cheese, salsa and chips, yogurt, fruit drink, pizza, chicken, ice-cream, specialty foods on their road shows..you name it they got it..and we get our children to eat out of their daily food groups in one place without spending a dime..Seriously we leave feeling full, then the long ride home from Henderson is worth it cause it leaves us room for their beautiful nap.ahhh...mazing

3.Their Cheap Food Court.. you can't beat $1.50 for a hot dog and drink or $3.00 for a Caesar chicken salad, or $10.00 for a huge pizza with all the toppings! When I get lazy and we're on a budget, besides our ritual Popeye's 99 cent for two pieces of chicken Tuesdays, Costco for lunch or dinner is a life saver!

4. Their return policy is awesome! with them always have a roadshow casing new things!, it's hard not to buy stuff..Their Carter's baby clothes and specialty items ..so cheap!! Even flowers so cheap..2 dozen roses $14.00 gee Nick can splurge on me! ha ha and I do buy flowers there at least once a month..Carter's dresses usually 12.00 at babies r us, only $5.99 there! thinks like microfiber cloths, computer ink specialty items are cheap and, the return policy...You can return anything even without a receipt even if it's been open and used!! How awesome is that? Even though we haven't returned much it's nice to know what insurance policy we have when buying from Costco!

5. (possibly my favorite reason) I get magazines at 30% off the cover stand. I get so many subscriptions for free, probably though offers and thing I've bought in the past..But my magazines are endless...so much to read! I got parents, ladies home journal, used to get Martha, and Oprah, I now have better homes and baby talk ..and Nick has a couple..This Sunday my temptation got the best of me and I had add to the collection and buy this magazine,shop smart ;) which will now be a ritual and I will but it monthly..It's usually $4.99 but I bought it for $3.50 or less I think..it had things in there about saving money, and new product guides, I cant wait to dig deeper into it! it's a great magazine made by consumer guide, has no ads, and keeps me on my toes on all the information my brain is attaining!! My indulgence of magazines I think may never get too far..

We have our First Famly Pet

2009-05-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

On Nick's Birthday party Uncle Leevi brought over a surprise from the easter bunny and it was a mini bunny. What a surprise it was, Lailie was so proud to show her cousins her new pet, as I mentioned previously, Seth was sick and although he was surprised, it didn't sink in till later when his tylenol finally gave it's kick. The bunny's name was "spots" named by Uncle Leevi, and although it was a cute name it wasn't unique enough for Nick and I and we're are all about that stuff. So one day about a week later, Nick aproached me and asked if the name "Harley" would suit him... I thought "yeah, it can go both ways, if one day we ever find out it's a girl bunny and not a boy bunny then "she" could still keep that name" So it stuck and it's the cutest thing ever is hearing our little ones say his name like he's a part of the family..they say things like "let's go see Harley" or "Harley is hungry can we feed him?" Mostly, Nick takes care of him, but there's nothing sexier than a man melting all over an itty bitty bunny wabbit" it's like watching him all googly eyed over our newborn babies all over again, but this time I didn't have to go through labor pains to reap the joy of seeing that "aww look hun!" face... Wow our first family pet! Thank
You Uncle Leevi and Mark! It Was a memorable Easter!

Egg Coloring

2009-05-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Poor Seth was extremely Sick but he was a trooper and dyed some eggs anyway! Good Job bud!

Iliana's First Easter and she loved dying eggs, although she had no clue what that meant

this is Lailie Dying eggs, she had so much fun and did almost half the carton all by herself!

Custom Invites

2009-03-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

I've been making invitations for Family members and myself since summer 2007 But because of my little cousin who's turning one, I made him a custom invite and decided to make a home based business, I am trying to use my graphic design skills to do these invitaions I knew Jolies creations that did these in Hawaii and I haven't seen any here, apparently they are a hit and With God's grace I hope I can build up my clientel quickly. So y'all who read my myspace and blog ..I'm here if you need a custom invite made. Call for Pricing

Example of each print cost is $1.50 for 5X7 professional glossy or matte prints and $1.20 for 4X6 ones (envelopes call for pricing) plus $25.00 Fee for Service

I've already got three customers lined up in the last hour, so please give me 3 days to make it...For limited time I am waiving my service fee, good until I gotta leave for San Jose on Mar 20th so order yours today!!

New Home based Business I'm starting called

Shel ECreations

Custom Photo Invitations for Graduation, Birthdays,

Custom Collages for Gifts, Birthdays, Mother's Day

Custom Birth Announcements

Examples:

8 Years Of Love

2009-03-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

A picture we took on the day we first got together

(I copied this from a CD cover I made, not the greatest pic, but I'll upload better ones when I get to it)

Today was the 8 year anniversary of when Nick and I got together March 3rd 2001.. Wow, were old! I couldn't believe it, when I thought of it the other day, that I met Nick on my 18t birthday. I was so young. Of course, because we were so young, we used to party hard..as do all young teens do. And because of that, we, YES...we met at a nightclub. I remembered talking to one of my friends because he was wishing me a happy birthday that night, then shortly being introduced to Nick by him. (gotta thank Woah-wee for that intro!) Nick was giving me a "birthday present" can't say what, but I got so nervous that I said thanks after a few minutes and walked away. My best friend at the time told me to get his number so I could take him to the prom cuz he was cute. So she stopped Nick and he told her to tell me to meet him outside, where it's not so loud. Outside we talked a little, there was no where to sit, so I was gonna sit on the floor, but Nick took off his backpack and laid it on the ground so I wouldn't be dirty..How cute! That already won me over.. He asked to kissed me, we exchanged numbers and went on our way.

I called him three days later, asked him to come out with me to a hotel party to celebrate my friend's birthday, he obliged and I remember when I got off of work that day, as I waited for my ride, Nick walks up from the corner and meets me at work.. He's hesitant, wondering if it's me. The first thing that came out of his mouth was.."rrrRochelle is that you? I ran up gave him a big hug and he swung me around. Then we went to my house to pick up some things for the hotel, driving to the hotel we were singing laughing in the car, I knew he had a great heart, he's so funny! When we got to the hotel we all decided to go swimming. We went to the pool and man, it was the sexiest thing ever, me in a teenie bikini and him all ripped with just shorts on. But of course we were all dressed like that! (but he was the sexiest one, *wink*) We jumped in the water and held each other while we talked, after a moment it started raining, it was hot outside, raining in the pool and we were half naked kissing..damn what's sexier than that? Too bad everyone was there, haha..no, nothing happened.. we all decided to get out of the rain and go inside to shower, Nick forgot his tooth brush so we walked down to an "ABC store" in Waikiki for one, I remember thinking "mmm... sexy arms" We got back into our room, and chilled..laughed, partied, ate, danced and even read horoscopes ha ha yeah I was into that back then, wanted to see if an Aries and Aquarius was a perfect match, at the time only time would tell... Later that night we were rendezvouing in our own bed in the suite, as a sexy song played on the radio, he asked if I could be his girlfriend, before Nick I didn't really have a steady boyfriend, I was having fun, so for him to ask me this was a big deal.. I was letting go my freedom into the arms of I man I technically knew for 8 hours, hmm? No, hesitation!.... he was everything I wanted in a man and of course I said yes, and it was so worth it, it was so sweet of him to ask that before anything got too far between us, it was tempting..but as soon as we were established, we both got comfortable and knew this was right..... the rest is history!

We've had our ups and downs for a really long time, but through it all we've gotten so much stronger, we've broken up, broken down, found religion together, wanted to kill for one another, wanted to die for one another, vowed to one another, Uplifted, changed for the better, made mistakes but, have forgiven and to top it off, had our children...Through it all, we wouldn't change a thing! As we cuddled today and reminiced about this past we both couldn't believe this day came by so quickly, but we haven't been counting our years, because we know God destined this for us, over time it was plain to see why he is in my life and I am in his.. We are so blessed to say that we've "Loved" and "been loved" for eight beautiful years..we know there are more years of us together to come ..And we Thank God for each second of the day we have and are going to have together.

Happy Anniversary baby!, I lOVE HIM

Our Dream of a white christmas came true!!

2009-02-23T00:21:00.000-08:00

This is a post I've been trying to put up, and finally had the time to do it....I am certain you all will enjoy this!!

Look outside, it's a surprise!!

Hey guys it's snowing in Vegas yay!

Look at their hair, perfect for catching snow

Watching the first snowfall from our balcony

Taking a break under the shade ..Seth finds that looking up is beautiful

"Looking up" looked like this, you are amazing God!!

The Beanies looked like this when we first came out

I am loving the snow, but I wish Nick was here!

Observation~ Contemplation~ Imgination

Kissing in the snow, aww

"I'm so happy mom" Seth says, while he gives Lailie a hug

First snow fall we witnessed

barely sticking to the road

Wow! Snow!! Seth is so happy

He's tasting to see if the snow tastes like gum drops

The three of them sitting in the front watching the snow

Iliana's loving the fresh air

waiting for more snow

Catching snow in their bowls (for breakfast? no!?)

a second look at the beanies in our balcony, few centimeters of snow has fallen in the last 20 minutes

Seth Asked if he could taste clean fresh fallen snow, so I let him he cherished that experience

Lailie loves shaved ice, to her this was better, she couldn't get enough!, I had to stop her from eating more than a hand ful

A beautiful shot of Lailie looking out the window admiring the snow

Iliana's First sight and touch of snow!

I'm so glad we got to see this

Our lil' Eskimo is so adorable

You can see the snow falling into our backyard

Lailie and Seth playing in the front

The snow is starting to stick

Remember the first picture? now look at the road in this picture.. it fell thick and covered out road pretty fast

On December 15th, ten days before Christmas, The First snowfall came down into Vegas, and we were in the right place at the right time, in the perfect home to witness it but Nick saw it first from the top of the Wynn "Encore" Tower where he was working, him and his co-workers were watching the snow, Nick calls me and says "baby wake up if you open the window there might be snow falling right now" I opened the sliding door upstairs, and wow the first snow fall right in the front of our house..I ran inside bundled up Seth and Lailie, I took them to the sliding door and I said look there's a surprise outside, the opened up the door and yelled "it's snowing" oh! It felt so good to see my children wake up to snow falling outside, we really wished daddy was with us, but he was with us on the phone....The first time was saw snow was in summerlin and it was the first time it snowed in vegas in a long time, Seth was only 6 months old, and we went out to desert breeze part to make snowmen and play in the snow, But this was the first time we witnessed this much snow falling right outside, God blessed us with moving up to the perfect place just in time to witness a truly "white Christmas" We are so blessed! The whole Las Vegas got to witness it and it was a dream come true I'm sure for a lot of people!! I hope it snows like this again one day real soon!

At the Cheesecake Factory

2009-02-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

the Blue fountain of oohs and ahhs

Our Ohana at the Cheesecake Factory

thanks baby..Love you!

the ritz+bikini martini=tipsy

Took a shot with me! haha

"I love it when they hang out"

Cute mini couple of "us"

Jammin to music

Goin for seconds! Our Fatty

I had a whole gang of waitresses sing to me and

Lailie says "Ha-Pee-But-Day Mom-ee"

My babies on my birthday, Seth's so big now!

what a beautiful reflection

On Saturday we started the day with getting Nick a hair cut, while he did that I ran off to Michaels to buy some ribbon, and to Sallys to get some supplies, lucky for me I hit another sale at Sallys (thank you God) After that I picked up Nick at his barber, he was lookin fly with his fresh do.. so we celebrated with some baskin robbins yum..We headed home to get ready for dinner, we decided to go to the cheesecake factory and have my birthday dinner because we skipped that on my birthday. The kids were crazy but we had fun anyway! Even Iliana was jammin to the music and had her fill of food, while Seth and Lailie shared the yummiest cheese pizza.

I tried the shrimp scampi and steak diane combo and Nick had a similar one except with salmon, It was Goo--ood! We had some cocktails, I had a bikini martini and he had the "Ritz" Yum! And oh my, the cheesecake slash chocolate cake was the best cheesecake I've ever tasted, hands down, it was their 30th anniversary limited edition and it was so good! I'm going back with Nick just for some cocktails and that cheese cake again!!

I had a fabulous time.

I married My best Friend just look at him!!

The Silly Nick

The Smooth Nick, alcohol always transforms him into this guy aha ha

old post Thursdays Officially Suck!

2009-02-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Iliana's First Popsicle

Thursdays are always hard for the children and I because Daddy has to go to school, I get lonely when he's gone on these days, and I know that he'll be home eventually, but it always leaves a worry in the pit of my stomach when he's so far away at school. Two more years, and it will be all worth while. On these days, I have a lazy day, usually an easy dinner, and some TV.... tonight we had left overs of my cheesecake factory version copycat meatloaf, mash and veggies, afterwards the kids had a bit of ice cream. All that Ice Cream I bought, I had to make it into good use right!!

It's Another Silly Day in Lailie Land

It started in the morning when she saw the reflection of my water bottle act as a prism when light hit it, it made a rainbow..Lailie jumped into our bed and woke me up saying "Look mom "Wainbow" It was neat how she remembered what we talked about yesterday because when "Daddy" got home the day before, we watched PBS and learned about prisms, then after the show Nick and I took out some glasses filled it with water and made our very own rainbows in the kitchen...Lailie remembered and spotted one right in our bedroom, first thing that next morning! Later that afternoon I looked over at lailie playing with her doll house I thought, aww how cute...but a few minutes later I look over and she's on the roof of the doll house like a mini godzilla! It was too funny, I have to get a shot of that next time around..Then that evening after dinner as Lailie drank a sip of my soda, Lailie say's look mom and she told me..."mom say "ahhh" So I'd say "ahh" then right after she opened her mouth and said "so-dahh" and we'd go back and forth with me saying "ahh" and her saying "so-dahh" Her little nose scrunched up as she said it, I got it on video and it cracks me up everytime I play it back!! She was such a clown today! I love it when she's like this

So-DAHH

Craving all things Etsy

2009-02-20T01:07:00.000-08:00

A while back,I found an online store called Etsy.com where you buy and sell things handmade and saw these really cute puzzle earrings, I love Etsy!! I was making jewelry for a while, but that was when I was staying at my mom's for weeks at a time, I just don't have the time, when I am captain of this ship and don't have sail mates to help me watch my precious cargo and clean the decks anymore. it's all me again... If you catch my "drift" ha ha get it? anyway, this made me spring upon a new muse and I'm gonna try making jewelry again. and maybe his time try selling it on this site... I wish I could make some cute ones for Lailie, but we're not getting her ears pierced till she asks or is old enough to relinquish every bit of excitement and sense of confidence that comes with getting your ears pierced, believe me, I know. I've had way too many things pierced in my lifetime to know how much joy it can bring, that moment will have to wait, another maybe 2-3 years from now So I'll just make her bracelets. I can't wait, hopefully I can start next weekend, I think I'll buy something from Etsy in the meantime to curve my craving..maybe this one cool necklace kit that you could mold you child's finger print on..ooh I want it!

Warning! Refrigerator Overload

2009-02-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

$80.00 for Nearly 160 Items, make each item 50 cents Each!!!

SEE MOM!! It was worth it!! thanks for the birthday money, I used it to buy Food :)

Monday I found out 2 Albertsons and 4 Lucky stores were closing on the 19th. That day I found out too late because I spent the day at grocery stores that weren't closing getting deals there, or so I thought... and I heard their baby stuff like food, formula, diapers lotions etc were 75% off., I was gonna ask Nick for the car to go the next day, but I figured everything was gone..Well, now regretfully I wish I tried anyways, So on my birthday tueday, we went later that evening and found most things were gone, we bought junk and formula and spent $20, the next day yesterday, I checked out the one in henderson and they had some medicine on sale, grout scrubbers I needed for my tile floor and Rid X septic cleaner I've been meaning to get...Well, Everything was 75% off besides the dairy *cheese* *ice cream* *butter* I overheard them telling people that today was their last day so every thing was 90% off incl. alcohol...So I took Nick to work today.. When I got to the store st 6am , I thought the people unloading were workers, little did I realize they opened their doors early, I should have waited outside, but in the cold? With three kids, no way, but I could have parked in the front and waited outside while they stayed warm inside though, at least until the doors opened.... Another thing I regret....When I got in, it was like black Friday (for men) they were crazy for the beer, Pepsi, sodas, energy drinks!! Imagine a keg of heine was 90% Monster Drink 90% off Pepsi 90% off !!
this is what I got:
6 (12 pack) Beer @89 cents ea. = $$3.56
2 (4 pack) vitamin waters @42 cents ea. =.84 cents
6 (cases of 7up, Lemonade, Fanta, Root Beer) = $3.60
Next I hit the shelves:
5 (24 packs American cheese slices): 52 cents ea. = $2.60
13 (8oz bags of shredded cheese) :50 cents ea.= $4.50
10 (Philadelphia cream cheese): 35 cents ea. = $3.50
Frozen shrimp @ $1.19
2 boxes (Cooked Chicken strips) .39 cents ea = 78 cents
11 (bags of cheerios party mix, chex mix) .35 cents ea =$3.85
2 (20lb bags of ice) 25 cents each = 50 cents
medicine, toys, Bed Head hair products each 19 cents to 69 cents each.....Total $39.36 So basically for every One Item you'd buy full price at a store you get 10 free!!

But I couldn't get enough, that albertsons had their Ice cream still at 25% off so I went to Lucky's on the north side, people had crates full of stuff, it was like the world was ending and they were stocking up...I should have went here instead, it looked like they had more.. this is where I got tons of ice cream at 90% off...
9 boxes (Mini wheat's ,golden grahams, other cereal)
40 cents ea. = $3.60
15 (Tubs of Ice Cream) (dryers). 59 cents ea. = $8.85
13 (Ice Cream (Ben and Jerry's, Hagen Daz) 41 cents ea = $5.33
Chicken gravy 16 cents ea bought 6 for 96 cents
Bottle of Chardonnay: $1.09
Popsicles: 28 cents
8 tubs (cool whip) 19 cents ea = $1.60
Fillo pastry dough: 38 cents each
kandoo hand soap: 36 cents
Starbucks double shot :22 cents
Lansinoh Ointment (luv this stuff and is expensive) These were only 88 cents each usually 9.oo in stores, yes I pay that much when I buy these so I stocked up and bought 4
At Luckys I spent: $30.85

(our Deep Freezer is overloaded!!)

Here's an example of how much I saved: Just for these items below For: 2 gallons of milk, 6pk boxed Milk (good for emergencies),sunblock spray, mail cutter,axe hair care, Gillette Aftershave, wipes, nutmeg,Paul Mitchell conditioner, almonds, and a bunch of toys (kids went shopping too) I got this for $10.10 Crazy, I'm in such a euphoric state right now..All this Food for $80 bucks! I can't wait till the next store closes

Goodbye Old Printer Hello New Printer!!

2009-02-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

Our newbie

love this!

(Goodbye Old Printer)
Now that money's been tight...because of the economy, everything seems to be going out of business or on sale, and I just thank God that he shows us these deals when they come our way..Since I've been using coupons for everything, few months back my printer wasn't working right, so I couldn't save as much. A printer is almost as much of a necessity as a cell phone and computer is nowadays, they all go hand in hand. Before Christmas, Nick, well "I" bought us an HP photo printer something I've always wanted since forever. It's compact so I can print pictures from anywhere from my camera with a touch of a button. It also has a touch screen so it's as simple as using a nintendo DS.. It'll come in handy at family events or sending mama photos in the mail from home. Mostly I use it for last minute scrap booking, because most of my pics I do at costco @13 cents a print . I trust HP and our computer is HP so I decided to get a new HP printer at a going out of business sale for $30 bucks normally $120...It's an HP photo smart which prints such dynamic colors. It's also a scanner so when I scan things it shows a preview up on the mini screen before I print, just like at Kinkos!! I live off this printer..I use it for everything. I just thank God for the deals he's been throwing my way lately!! Truly Blessed!

Love Bites

2009-02-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at Lucky's the place was bone dry, but they still had a few things for 75% off, I saw this, I've always wanted these because I thought that Seth would love it if I made shaped sandwiches for school, but I never saw one since, and back then I never thought $3.00 was worth it to buy...It's so much better than cookie cutters, it cuts clean and the holes make it come out perfectly. It's mom invented and I think it's such a cool thing I wish I knew how to melt plastic to make a set of my own with butterflies, and footballs! I got this for 80 cents. And the kids thought they were special just because of it and ate up their PB&J. Like I told Nick, I'm all about presenting when giving..that's why they call it a present cause it's the way you (pre)(sent) it that makes it special, so true..even when it comes to food!

Always healthy!

Yum Mom!

2009-02-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

For my birthday, we didn't do much., because it was on a weekday, we might go out this weekend instead, plus Nick and I have our 8 year anniversary of when we first got together on (march 3rd) we don't celebrate that as much as we used to though..Wow. Everything's so close together, Valentines, bdays, anniversaries, plus my parents bdays were on jan 26th and Feb13th .. so I'm broke when it comes around this time haha. Nick came home with a card and walked through the door singing happy birthday with cake, we were in the middle of eating lunch! So it was such a surprise!! It was tiramisu, my favorite...and it was one of the best I've ever tasted! The card, made me feel old...then I opened my parents gifts, thank you mom and everyone! They all got me $100 dollars, a $50 dollar gift card, a grey top, and my purfume (Ralph) Being a mother of three I haven't bought my purfume since when I first met Nick in 2001..So I'm so happy to have it again. My sister Chastity sent me a card in the mail from her and my nephew Zaiden. They gave me the sweetest card and $50 dollars Thank you!!! Everyone was so sweet, but I felt old each time people would wish me a happy bithday haha. Cause almost everyone I know is yonger than me! And would say damn 26, time flies...man, I'm catching up to Nick, but everyone needs to catch up to me, especially my sister Chas, cause we are so close it seems like we're twins but she's almost 4 years younger than me.. hard to believe huh?? So, I broke down and ended up crying, and taking it out on Nick, talk about a bad moment he was so understanding and I ruined it!!.. so we didn't go out to dinner, we tried going shopping at Albertson's cause we heard they were closing but by the time we got there they were bone dry, just got baby formula for 75% off. in case I ever need it one day.. For dinner we ate Fazoli's and went home to end the day. Thank You hun, seth, lailie, Ili, mom dad, Jon, Tiff, Chas, Rodney, David an Faynette for wishing me a happy birthday!!!

CEC

2009-02-18T01:41:00.000-08:00

As Promised, We went to chuck e cheese's

Putting in his tickets

She loved the atmosphere and excitement

Doing a Stretch after dancing to Chuckecheese songs

I told Nick on Monday, "we're staying at CEC One hour tops, well with the deal I had because of a coupon.. 120 tokens for $10 bucks (which made it under 9 cents a game) who couldn't pass up staying there more than an hour, we ended up staying for three hours!! I also got a coupon for 1 large pizza super combo,4 reg. drinks, plus 40 tokens for $18.99..So for 29.00 divided by 160 tokens, it comes out to 18 cents a token with free food, you never pay full price for tokens and free food! Can't beat that! There is no coupon online that beats this deal so if you want it ask me (exp March 1st) so I'm stocking up on free tokens ..Sheez, we stayed there long But it's such an awesome idea when it's so cold outside for any activities. The kids had fun, I love that game where you put a coin in and it pushes more coins down, like a slot machine, on that game I should have won so many tickets but the tickets ran out, so the guy loaded up some more. When he was done, the machine gave me only 3 tickets. I told the guy "this must be wrong!" but he didn't do anything about it so I let it go, but later on Lailie and I went to see chuck e and in the corner was a cup of tickets. I thought it was some kid's, so i waited a long time before I grabbed it, when I looked in the cup I realized it was Chuck E 's tickets to give away cuz they were the singles. I took em and thought, that's what happens when they cheated me out of the tickets earlier, I got it back this way..how lucky we were, it turned out to be more than i would have gotten earlier, like 200 tickets or so!! and with the coupon, we can go to CEC often! At least once a week!

I'm Fondue (fond of you)

2009-02-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

Iliana Love (just woke up)

Lailie Love (all smiles)

Seth Love (so excited)

At Whole Food's Nick asking a wine expert while the kiddies caught a ride

Just beginning

This Is What we "started" with ...

Our Valentine's Dinner we "ended" with

Concentrating on the recipe and It turned out beautiful!"

we had so much fun!

For Valentine's We woke up pretty late, so we didn't get to make cupcakes or do fun things with the kids, so we just hung out at home, and promised Seth "Chuck e cheese" on Monday since daddy had it off! Later that evening we opened our presents from mama and papa, and uncle Jon and Auntie Tiff! Thanks guys, they loved their candies, money and bears, and their puzzle valentine as well as the yo gabba gabba valentine cards.!!

From us, Seth got a TMNT movie, Lailie a huge princess coloring set and Iliana got a sweater. Next we all jumped in the car to go shopping at our favorite "Whole Food's Market" Nick and I love to shop there because they have the best meat and freshest foods and have really good deals on organic and exotic veggies. I bought an enamel fondue set and decided to surprise Nick with the idea a few weeks ago, but he embraced it before I could surprise him and fully chose the recipes himself and got excited about shopping. We had cheese fondue with ellemental cheese (France)and gruyere cheese (switzerland) with white wine and more, to go with it were french bread and asparagus. I made my garlic butter potatoes in the oven and for the meat we had sirloin at $5.99/lb it was the best meat ever, the dip was a Dijon mix and we fried it in an olive oil and butter fondue. Along with exotic chocolate ice cream bon bons, grapes and crackers. All were finger foods, but romantic because we got to feed each other. Altogether we spent $80 at the store, but it was so worth it! plus we had leftovers, I would recommend it to anyone, it was so romantic, feeding each other with the lights off, candlelight, and the comfort of knowing our children were sound asleep upstairs....

(see) (they fell asleep in one room)

It looked and felt like we were at a restaurant in our very own kitchen and with the classical opera music in the background it was a great atmosphere for our dinner date. The children had spaghetti and alfredo from Fazoli's and their special dinner together before ours, and some yummy desert.

Everyone gave the most meaningful cards and gifts. My mom wrote the sweetest thing for us, she's the best and Jon and Tiff gave cool Valentines to the kids with fancy names, puzzles and money!! Nick chose a card for me from the kids which had three bunnies resembling all of them, how perfect. For Valentines, I gave Nick a DC versus Mortal Combat xbox game he's been dying to have. Nick made me cry this year.. It was so cute because I came upstairs and he had a bouquet of pink and red roses hidden behind his back, it was pink for friendship red for love. He then gave me my card and I exchanged it with his from me, mine had a sexy message I got to record in it and it had the song "let's get in on" inside, the card was too sexy I had to get it. Then gave him a puppy that sang everytime you opened and closed it's mouth like a puppet, and it was our song "close to you"by the carpenters, it's our song because of Marge and Homer Simpson. (inside joke) so I made the puppet sing and kiss all over his neck while we danced to the silly music and Nick asks me "you like it when we dance huh?" I replied with a "yes". He told me to open my gift next and it was my "willow tree" figurine, the "Promise" one.. it's a posed figurine of exactly the way we always dance, our signature dance, with my right arm around his neck and on his chest while he holds my left hand, we've always danced this way since the day we met. He said, see....."I knew you love it when we dance, and this figurine shows how much it means to me too...So, By accident (because we are connected in ways that are sometimes scary) It was the perfect execution of a valentine's day surprise that was so meaningful in so many ways, just so happened I chose the right moment (and song) and he just so happened to choose the right gift to go with it.. haha... So yes, I cried. It was a great valentine's I'll never forget. It get's more sentimental over the years, and I hope it stays that way!

From Old Love to New Love, I'll always love Our Love

Cupid came to Shower Love

2009-02-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well, not really cupid, but by family is like cupid, showering us with gifts and L.O.V.E ..My family sent us a box in the mail!! Seth, lailie, amd Iliana recieved Valentines Bags Filled with surprises I can't wait till tomorrow! There was a singing flower in the box, and mama sent Eddie, Seth's build a bear dino that he forgot on New Years, Seth was so happy to see him. There were treats like chocolates, bread, cookies, and my family even sent me real 12 dozen roses for my birthday, how sweet!! I can't wait to open my present too! Thank You mom , dad, Jon and Tiff! We LOVe YOu GuYs! The kids even Love the box the presents came in!! Chugga Chugga cho Cho Train! happy Valentines Day !

Dinner and a movie?

2009-02-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

Shocked I'm getting a hundred dollar gift cert to a fancy restaurant that I'm buying for under twenty dollars, I can't wait to use it!!!

My Birthday Calculator

2009-02-11T23:03:00.000-08:00

This calculator is pretty much on the money, I checked all of my children's dates to see if the conception part was right, and yes Seth was concieved around Aug 14th. Lailie was concieved on April 9 (Nick's birthday*wink*) and Iliana was concieved late September, early October. (that's what happens when your gone for 3 months) haha, but The coolest thing I found was that it said that Lailie's native american animal she resembles is an owl..My auntie Mia (my godmother who passed, that I love so much) Her favorite animal was an owl. I didn't even know that piece of info when I chose Lailie's middle name. I named Lailie's middle name after her, "Mia" *tear..* things do happen for a reason... anyways, I thought this thing was so neat to see. You might want to check yours out, go to this link! http://www.paulsadowski.org/BirthDay.asp

17 February 1983
Your date of conception was on or about 27 May 1982 which was a Thursday.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Aquarius.
Your Life path number is 4.

Your fortune cookie reads:
You will spend old age in comfort and material wealth.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 6 & 7.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 3, 5 & 9.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2445382.5.
The golden number for 1983 is 8.
The epact number for 1983 is 16.
The year 1983 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/13/1983 and ending 2/1/1984.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Pig.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Otter; your plant is Fern.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Parmuthy, the fourth month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 4 AdarI 5743.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 5 AdarI 5743.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.9.12.18 which is
12 baktun 18 katun 9 tun 12 uinal 18 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 4 Jumadiyu'l-Avval 1403 (1403-5-4).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 3 April 1983.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 8 May 1983.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 16 February 1983.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 22 May 1983.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 29 May 1983.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 8 September 1983.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 29 March 1983.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 15 February 1983.

As of 2/12/2009 12:58:37 AM EST
You are 25 years old.
You are 312 months old.
You are 1,356 weeks old.
You are 9,492 days old.
You are 227,808 hours old.
You are 13,668,538 minutes old.
You are 820,112,317 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981) Paris Hilton (1981) Jerry O'Connell (1974)
Bryan White (1974) Billie Joe Armstrong (1972) Denise Richards (1972)
Michael Jordan (1963) Rene Russo (1954) Jim Brown (1936)
Alan Bates (1934) Hal Holbrook (1925) Arthur Kennedy (1914)
Red Barber (1908)

Top songs of 1983
Every Breath You Take by Police Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Flashdance by Irene Cara Say Say Say by Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
All Night Long by Lionel Richie Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
Down Under by Men at Work Beat It by Michael Jackson
Islands In the Stream by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton Baby, Come to Me by Patti Austin & James Ingram

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 3.71506849315068 years old. (Life's just a big chewy bone for you!)

Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 4 & 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Leo.
Your opposition number(s) is 1.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 5 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 26 candles.

Those 26 candles produce 26 BTUs,
or 6,552 calories of heat (that's only 6.5520 food Calories!) .
You can boil 2.97 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1983 there were approximately 3.6 million births in the US.
In 1983 the US population was approximately 226,545,805 people, 64.0 persons per square mile.
In 1983 in the US there were 2,444,000 marriages (10.5%) and 1,179,000 divorces (5%)
In 1983 in the US there were approximately 1,990,000 deaths (8.8 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1983 the population of Australia was approximately 15,483,496.
In 1983 there were approximately 242,570 births in Australia.
In 1983 in Australia there were approximately 114,860 marriages and 43,525 divorces.
In 1983 in Australia there were approximately 110,084 deaths.

Your birthstone is Amethyst

The Mystical properties of Amethyst

Amethyst is used to increase spiritually
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Bloodstone, Onyx, Moonstone

Your birth tree is

Cedar, the Confidence
Of rare beauty, knows how to adapt, likes luxury, of good health not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, determined, impatient, wants to impress others, many talents, industrious, healthy, optimism, waiting for the one true love, able to make quick decisions.

There are 316 days till Christmas 2009!
There are 329 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waxing crescent.

I scream You scream For Ice Cream

2009-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yay! Getting ready to make sundaes Pouring on The Syrup

Sprinkling on the toppings Umm, It's so Good

and sneaking a finger taste test

This is a past blog, about a month old. We made sundaes on a cold day. But inside it felt like summer, because we had the heat up, so we wore summer clothes and decorated some ice cream sundaes, we had marshmallows, mini m&m's, peanut M&M's and two kinds of syrup for our vanilla sundae, it was so good... I think every week after that, we had an ice cream day. Till we ran out.. Which reminds me, I gotta get more~ yummy

face painting

2009-02-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

this afternoon we wanted to paint, so after the kids had their fill of food we decided to face paint and play with spongebob, dora and spiderman tatoos that I bought rolls of at party city. Seth wanted Mikey and Lailie wanted a "baf-fay" It was fun and of course Lailie's "baf-fay" lasted 2 minutes :)

sunday

2009-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to eat at the "Golden Dragon" all you can eat restaurant. It was okay..San Jose has better buffets when it comes to asain food. Afterwards we went to the library to borrow some books, we are getting into the routine of reading to our kids everyday, and I picked up material for preparing Seth for school. In elementary school I was introduced to "what your_ grader needs to know" books. Now it is that season in my life that I get to use them on my children, Next week I'll be buying "What your kindergartener needs to know" from borders or barnes and noble since I have a teachers pass for 20% off, at the library we borrowed material for his alphabets, my favorite books for children, a couple magazines for me, and some decorating books. After the library we went to the "Chinese New Year 2009 Celebration" at Spring Mountain, it was $3 a person to get in and the kids were free, we spun raffle wheels, the kids jumped on a slide, Seth bought a sword with his allowance money, and Mc Donalds were giving away free apple dippers, we got a whole box!! like 15 of them ..Yum. The best part were the Chinese masked characters giving away free lollipops and the taiko drummers, martial arts, filipino dancers, and The LION DANCE.. Lailie was a bit scared at first because of how realistic they are, but soon enough she was clapping wih excitement. Seth loved it, we hope to make it again next year!

The IRS calls again

2009-02-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Finally got our W-2 in We get to file free cuz we meet income guidelines of making less than 56,000..which is bittersweet cuz, we file for free but...didn't make as much as those who made more..So for those who made more this year, don't irk me..Just pay the basic $14.95 and file the darn thing..You can't have everything ya know...haha. Guess when you make more you loose more...Like this year, we made more, but now can't EITC cause we made too much...Hope Obama puts three qualifying childen on and helps some of us "in betweeners" get some tax relief next year...maybe the solution is having more kids? right? more kids more deductions!!...okay.. if you just agreed with me there, even for a second, I hate to tell you this but congratulations you're a greedy money grubber!! haha having more kids for more money? Um...NO. that is just so wrong. Anyways, I'm just excited to get some relief to pay off more bills...and get personal things done

Mitsu Miss You

2009-02-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Iliana's Birthplace

Fast Forward sixteen years, we'll have the same pic

If anyone remembers, we have our 1999 Mitsubishi Mirage, Nick and I have so many memories with that car, he took me to hoover dam when I first visited him here to propose to me in arizona/Nevada at the same time in that car "like in the movie Fool's Rush in" We took our first road trip to San Jose in that car before we had kids. It was "my car" for a while when Nick had his truck. And most of all Iliana was born in that car!! Sigh, we're glad that it's gone cause it was breaking down and was looking ugly, but I'm a bit teary eyed over the idea of it being gone, meaning our memories went with it, something like an "out of sight out of mind" moment. But Nick and I both agree that it's another season in our life, just like adding babies, or moving homes. "It's a good thing" he tells me...and I trust him.."Tell me you'll never forget" I say....He says. "Never" ....So Good bye Mitsu we'll Miss You (it rhymes, funny) and we'll cherish every moment good and bad, we've had with is car.. Thanks for the memories

New In Town

2009-01-27T15:12:00.001-08:00

I won tickets to see the premiere of "New in town" at the Brennan theatres inside the palms. To be out this Friday Jan 30th..Yay. I've never won much in my life, other than a $40 snapfish photo package (which I just won yesterday) and ski tickets in Tahoe when I was like 12 ...So this was a surprise! I love winning stuff. It starts tonight at 7:30 I was going to give the tickets away but Nick said that even though he works at 5am and we probably won't get home till 10pm and added, the fact he's sick ..he'll still take me out on a long deserved "chick flick" date. how nice..And he said he wants to see it too cause it played our song on the previews. What a cheezer. I'm so excited to just get out of the house for free!

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-27T00:59:00.000-08:00

Gung Hei Fat Choi (happy new year)

January 26th was Chinese New Year (and my mom's 48th birthday) So today was such a special day. Me being a quarter chinese I wish that I could have practice a little more of my chinese traditions. But since my grandfather died when I was only two, my chinese part of my life kinda faded away because my dad forgot a bit of his roots.This year is the Year of the Ox , symbolising prosperity through fortitude and hard work so I know this year we'll prosper through the hard work Nick does. my baby works so hard at what he does, his job is so dangerous on lifts and ladders working on ceilings, being 30 feet in the air. I shiver thinking about it. He works in the cold, in the heat in the wind and rain (and snow) If it's anyone I know that works hard it's my husband. He goes through a lot at work at those hotel buildings and when he comes home it doesn't stop there. I don't think he has the time to kick up his feet. After work he calls me everyday to ask me if he needs to run to the store for last minute things I might need, in a week he probably goes three times.. so pretty much everyday. Then at home he showers, comes down to grab a baby and play while I make dinner. Then he asks me "is there anything you need hun" mostly I try to not ask for much, but he lifts a hand anyways. So I know there is no one in this world I know more that should prosper through his hard work more than Nick. But I do hope well for everyone too.

Chinese New Year Traditions:

Red Envelope: for wealth put money in even numbers

Eat Sweets: It will forcast a sweet year

1st day of the year: Gamble for it's the luckiest day of the year (Nick lost $100 darn, maybe cuz he's not chinese i should have went haha, next time)

Clean house before New year: to wash away old grudges

Wear new clothes: to ensure everything new

Open doors and windows: let bad things out, good come in

FORBIDDEN ON NEW YEARS

Sweeping :sweeps away your luck

Offering anything in fours

Getting a haircut

buying shoes

Crazy traditions, our family only practices some not all. Believe me there is a longer list.

I have these mailboxes I'm using now (was saving for valentines day) but I told Seth, if he is good then the next day when he comes down for breakfast and the flag is up that means there will be something waiting for him in his mailbox. Since it was chinese new year I decided to do my "red envelope" tradition and put chinese candy in the mailbox for them.. they loved it!!

And Happy Birthday mom wish we could be there I lit a candle on a cupcake and videotaped the kids singing Happy birthday to mama and sent it to my mom's email at her work ..she told me stop making her cry. For her bday I bought her heels, her favorite lancome lipstick (30 bucks for whale fat wow!!) a $50 dollar Olive Garden Gift card, and made a custom bear w/ a shir that had plumerias and said "happy birthday mama" on the front and "love Seth, Lailie & Iliana" on the back courtesy of customistic my favorite store, I make everything there.. And Chas got some dinero for her and Jon and my dad and Tiff got her a big screen TV...cute cuz Jon made up her favorite filipino gameshow gameboard, pieces, prizes and all and everyone joined in and cheering her on( chas and Tiff dancing)..She had two x's third x she's out but she got 3 TV symbols so she won...and my dad pulled out the TV ..how neat!!!

Lailie's Groovy Gabba Birthday

2009-01-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this a long time ago , I finally had the time to finish..

Happy Birthday Lailie Mia. Our well deserved most awesome daughter with the most beautiful character this year we decided to go all out on Lailie's birthday, since her first birthday (which was supposed to be big and special) Didn't turn out to be as big as I wanted it to be, because of things I chose not to remember but was still special. Our Lailie bug couldn't be more special to us. She is everything Nick and I dreamed about eight years ago when we talked about having children. We never knew that eight years later she'd be the apple of our eyes and that we'd have two. .(Iliana) But for her birthday, it's the least we could do to celebrate the gift of her life that God had blessed us to enjoy, To enjoy her presence and have the honor to watch her grow. This party was a meer forecast of what is to come, they joys we'll get to experience as each year passes, that she is blessed with. Happy Birthday little one, may all your wishes come true.!!

A PICTURE WITH FOOFA AND MUNO

Before the Party all our guests got to take a picture outside and be Foofa and Muno, a special Thank you goes out to my brother Jon, for handpainting and spraying the lifesize gabba friends. He put a lot of work into these and they were a sure entertainer! The photo session all made us laugh and it was fun doing it. my brother, the artist couldn't have done these better . Even my aunts, uncles, grandma, and parents joined in..Thanks everyone for joining in on the fun!

BABY STEPS (musical dots)

***A game we anticipated playing was Baby steps ...Which were dots on the ground and it was the concept of musical chairs... To the song baby steps each child walked around to the song "baby steps" when the music stopped, they sat on a dot. last one on the dot wins!***

*** Another anticipated game was "The Brobee toss" Where you toss plastic foods like, apples, banana, carrots into a hole in brobee's belly to win a prize..There sure was a " party in hs tummy" so yummy! so yummy...nummy nummy***

POP-A FOOFA

***Our second game was "Pop-A-Foofa" . Thank you Tiff and Chas for filling and blowing up the balloons! We passed out gabba colored balloons just like in the one episode where they all give Brobee balloons to make him happy. Well, we passed out a balloon to every child at the party and inside were filled with confetti and white paper Foofas, the first one to pop their balloon and find a PINK Foofa, won a prize which was a plate and Cup set. My youngest sister Tiffany won the prize!***

PIN THE EYE (pupil) ON MUNO

***One of the games were, Pin the Eye on Muno. More like, pin the "pupil" on muno haha.. Some people had no clue where Muno's eye went, nonetheless we had a winner! First place was Rachel who won a gumball machine like the one on yo gabba gabba.. and Brandon picked a paint set who won second place. I made muno freehand, no stencils, glued on the bumps and made the eye pieces and mouth, it turned out looking like muno dead on, that Lailie thought it was actually a real muno! Worth the effort, and Fun too. We were also gonna do pin the glasses on "DJ LANCE" (Tiff's idea) but she thought up that idea in the middle of the game so maybe someone else can use that idea, woulda looked cool, just print up an enlarged DJ Lance face, contact paper it and cut out black glasses out of sticker paper or sticky vinyl and go crazy!!

Hey this is a PG rated party haha.....dirty minds I tell ya !

"Muno rocks!" Says Seth, Lailie gets a spin from daddy before pinning the Eye on Zaiden, oops I mean Muno haha...

GOODY BAGS

The Famous Handmade Party favors that were done by myself and the help of my sister who cut out tedious pieces of paper..But it turned out more than awesome! I hand drew the pieces and Chastity thought up the making of the famous sad and happy Brobee since we had two different greens, good job sis! It totally pulled everything together And thank you for all your hard work. (See the painting Jon made of our Gabba Friends)

GUESS THE PLEX

GUESS THE PLEX. was the name of the game! I made a Plex head out of scraps I found around the house improvising with a ribbon spool, flute bottom, a marble, candle, paper, bottle caps, dart tips, paint , and glue and filling his glass jar body with lemon heads The person who could guess the lemon heads inside Plex won a $10 dollar prize, they wanted the Plex, but sorry Lailie's keeping it! Brandon won at #216 pieces when the actual was #217 what an awesome guess, hey.. did he peek? ***

BOOMBOX PINATA

I thought that making a plex pinata would be fun, but I didn't want to exclude any characters, so I made DJ Lance Rock's Boombox, everyone loved carrying it around pretending to be DJ Lance... Jon and I made this Pinata, and Chastity and I put the strings on and filled it. Jon Spraypainted the box silver for me and made me a handle and I put crepe paper on the speakers and cut out pieces of the buttons. We anticipated busting this thing open, but it was too cold outside so we put stings on it, which was better cause I got to save the pinata..From small (Baby Micah) to Big (Uncle Wil) everyone had a blast pulling the strings to see who'd get it open, but Chas and I taped it so much that it didn't open when it was supposed to, but it's okay because everyone had a chance to pull. The boys ripped it open in the end and candy and Quarters were everywhere! Thanks Uncle Wil for helping Lailie girl, and Thanks Daddy for Being DJ Lance and holding the boombox hehe.

CAKE AND PRESENTS YAY!!!

Thanks to Auntie Chas for Buying the Birthday Cake and Decorations..The Guava cake was yummy and the Idea you had for the colors were awesome. I made party hats, amazingly they had a pack of plain hats with all the right colors. And on the hats I taped Yo gabba gabba tags that came with my kid's shirts!

Thank You's

Thanks to all who sang happy Birthday, my dad who put on the "hip hip horray b-day song" just for Lailie on the stereo, and to all Hawaii people for your generous monetary gifts, Thanks to my mom , Auntie Almer, mama Merced for cooking all the food, without you three the party would'nt be possible. A special Thank you to my mama Josie, Mama Sabel, Mama Orang and (whoever else I didn't mention) in hawaii for pre-cooking all the food and sending it express mail just for my party, I am overwhelmed at all the work everyone put in. Thank you Uncle Louie and Uncle Drew for Driving all the way from L.A and San Diego to make it to her birthday. Thank you Auntie Nhel for driving from Sacremento to make it also. Thank you Uncle Walden for the BBQ and coming early in the morning to make your famous ribs! Thanks to all my mom's friends, Auntie Lucy, Auntie Nhila, Auntie Jocelyn & Family for coming. A special Thanks to both my sisters and my brother for being by my side through madness and stress and helping me make this party AWESOME. You guys made this party too! Chas for paying for a lot of stuff, getting awesome presents and tediously working on the BBQ sticks, and Jon for staying up hour making the banner, and handpainting everything, making tose awesome lifesize cutouts, BBQing, and running errands, Thanks Tiff for making the party fun and entertaining our kids with the games and helping out with the goody bags!! Without all your guy's help I wouldn't have made it out alive haha. You guys are all awesome. Thank you Nick for helping!!.. sticking BBQ and running errands, like a chicken without his head! haha. A special thank you to my mom and dad, because they let me have this crazy party, invited all these people and for letting me keep the money owed to them for this party, it was such a big help. A Thousand dollars and gifts is nothing compared to the love you all put into this THANKS EVERYONE WE LOVE YOU ALL!! AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GENEROUS MONETARY GIFTS and Gorgeous presents you know who you are!!

Foofa Fanatic!! Happy Birthday Lailie

2008-12-10T08:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday...On Dec 9th. it was Lailie's birthday!! We were so busy decorating the Christmas tree from the night before that we didn't do much for her birthday. The day started out with her waking up at 11:00 to see all the streamers, balloons and the banner put up that Jon and I hand painted. Jon and I sang to her..And she was in awe...The night before at 12:00am we were up still trimming the tree and mama, her uncle and I sang to her and she got a little terrified, I guess because it was so late and she was wondering why were we all singing so loud! Well next she ate breakfast, and watched her "Yo Gabba Gabba" show, of course.. Then a phone call came in from Daddy to wish Lailie Girl a happy birthday. Throughout the day, my mom and I were cleaning for the party on Saturday so Lailie was running around here and there. I left to go buy my daughter a tres leches cake my mom was craving. After Two Safeways later, I gave up and just bought one from Luckys..It wasn't the same. I went to target to look for stuff to buy her, but couldn't find any good gabba toys, so I bought her a princess ariel that sings. Later that evening, my sister and her family came over and instead of celebrating out for dinner, we ordered take out at East lake Restaurant. It was too cold and everyone was sick...I prayed for the food and over Lailie, we ate then celebrated her (bornday) with cake. After Zaiden and Seth blew out her candle the first two times, haha on the third time Lailie finally blew out her candles, (except one) cause Zaiden just had to blow one too.. But it was cute and Lailie wasn't mad, until we caked her face a little!! I Wonder why babies cry when you do that, it seriously never fails. Wanna make a kid cry? Smear cake on them. Haha. Everyone had their piece and it was present time. Yeah! Chas brought over a few presents and I saved mine for Saturday since I know most of her presents that day are going to be monetary gifts. Shucks.. :) She opened up the hello kitty bags filled with hello kitty stuff and a "Foofa" Pjs which were an absolutely too cute pair!! a pink polka dotted "Todee and Foofa" long sleeve and a green "Foofa" sweater....All which i adore..and guess what last she open up a box of diapers...but it wasn't just a box of diapers it was a SINGING FOOFA!!! To match all of her Foofa clothes, singing Brobee, Muno guitar!!...I gotta tell you all something, the story behind this Foofa is incredible. My sister and my brother in law went looking everywhere for this doll, YOU CANNOT repeat CANNOT find this in any store and online for used for double the price, but pretty much.. IT is SOLD OUT.. So when she found it Wilson and her said that they've gotta get it no matter the cost..They brought it up to the register at Target.. and for some reason maybe cause it was the last one, it wasn't in their system. So the lady at the register said, "these things are $5.99 right?" and rang it up....Little did she know I thing the gab and sing dolls usually sell for $20 bucks..And little did everyone know, because it is a sold out item..On amazon people are selling it for $69.oo and Up!! and some are listed on ebay as a "hard to find" item as a buy it now price for $175.00 WOW!! So we GOT THE DEAL OF A LIFETIME...and Lailie girl got her faboulous Foofa at a faboulous price..THANKS CHAS and WIL..The gift was AWESOME and the story behind it made the gift PRICELESS...and can make a perfect mastercard commercial.."Foofa sweater $9.99...Foofa Singing Doll $5.99... Finding a sold out toy at a discounted price from $175 dollars in Time for her birthday..PRICELESS!!" A birthday we'll never forget...and "Lailie won't let go of that doll!!" (and I'm kinda wishing I could keepsake that doll since it's now a collectible) But like I said, She won't let go of that doll!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY LAILIE GIRL WE LOVE YOU!!

(pics coming soon, laptop out of commission)

Filipino Pride- the dream fight

2008-12-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

Magandag moment ito!! (what a beautiful moment) This was seriously a dream fight. Yesterday, after our family picked out our christmas tree my sister said that her and my brother in law was going to order the fight, so I told her we were down to come and kick it. Well, after standing in a long line, and getting our order mixed up just for fricken egg rolls and chicken,(but so worth it) our whole family went to their house to set up for game time. My parents and my brother dropped off the tree and picked up the food that my mom had made...mmm crab legs ...wow! The fight looked great on that TV they have and we were so excited to watch Manny beat down on de la hoya they called him the mexicutioner..(horrible but funny) and we were cracking jokes like "i'm the mexicutioner and I'll be back" in our terminator voices haha..Okay, after the beer, food and everyone swearing in filipino screaming and jumping for an hour ..just on the 8th round Manny won by TKO I was shocked! De la hoya didn't put up much of a fight so Manny didn't have a scratch on him. But, DudeI was happy he won but I felt so sick at the same time because we didn't have the money this week to bet on it, if the fight wasn't till next week we would have been able to throw our cash down on betting...Nick and I were planning on putting our $650 on Pacquiao therefore winning over $1000 dollars and getting our $650 back too, but we decided to put that money towards Lailie's birthday....frick I am so sick ..xmas woulda been xtra nice this year...But hey, that's life and Lailie's birthday is more important than getting something nice for us, because material things come and go, but a memory like a birthday lasts a lifetime, she so deserves it!!...but maybe next time, although this was a once in a lifetime moment, the kind of game people only dream of, it came true, I am just thankful that I got to see it! And I just want to say that I am damn proud to know my heritage and can claim that I am a filipina. Unlike some people out there, I am filipna and still know my heritage and am deep in my roots. My parents both still speak tagalog and ilocano but have english as their first language. I EAT and COOK filipino food. I am surrounded by it and so are my children. I love the fact that Nick supports me in teaching our children our heritage, it's strong on my side of the family and Nick encourages it by using some words I use, eats the food my mom and I cook, and HE loves it. He also practices the traditons and superstitions (some) that we have. Thanks to the PACMAN, I have come to realize how lucky I am to know where I'm from and to still keep it alive in my home. Most of all, Manny gave God the glory when he said to the words.."Thank You LORD!" into that camera, and knealing down to pray and give thanks..What a great feeling ......Pacquiao was awesome and God had all the glory! My kind a day!

You're Invited!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

MY LAILIE GIRL IS HAVING A BIRTHDAY!!!! I can't believe my little girl is gonna be two!! She love's yo gabba gabba and can name all of the characters...I am a friend of "gabbafriends.com" so I made my own invitation and am making my own party decor and cupcakes.....So hopefully I can email them and they'll post it all my party pics on their website. Lailie went to the Picture People to take these pics, and the photographer, Brian mcintosh can take credit for it..It was crazy, cause Lailie was crying the whole time. I don't know how he managed to snap these pics, he loved her look so much they asked me to sign a model release for her photos, I was so enthralled at his comments, he said " I want to show everyone that a picture doesn't have to be all about SAY CHEESE!" and that a moment without smiles can be just as captivating, plus she is just beautiful" Haha I agree, ( puera osog) So I'm guessing I'll be seeing her photos somewhere in the picture people studios...Crazy cool....and hoping that I'll see Lailie's face on the Yo Gabba Gabba Website too!! Her party is on the 13th but she''ll be 2 years old in just 6 and a half days..I'm so excited but sad at the same time, cause Daddy will be in vegas till the 12th..Well, crunch time...time to think up some ideas.....Yo gabba gabba rocks!

Updating!

2008-11-25T02:24:00.000-08:00

Okay! so i haven't been catching up with my posts, so here's an old one, there are gonna be a few old ones to catch up to and post because winter is coming up. I need to update what the kiddies have been up to this past fall..This was a day when Daddy got to play, I think it was on Veteran's day! We played video games, went to the Lake to feed duckies, (luckily they haven't migrated aha), Seth met a friend and his name was Kyle. We shared our bread with his family and they were having lots of fun climbing and riding bikes. It was only 5pm so we decided to top off the night with some all time favorite chuck e cheeses!!...it was a great day, just a day we could relax a bit and unwind. I'm so glad Nick was up to doing all this in one day.

MmmmM&M's

2008-11-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

Much to my amazement. Today I discovered that my 23 month old knows her colors! (somewhat) Today I opened a mini pack of regular M&M's to reward Lailie for her good behavior. As she reached for one,.. I realized, "wait a minute..what a great way to teach colors!" So, before she grabbed an M&M I said.."stop!" "kay Lailie's which one's the yellow one?" ..and to my surprise, she reached and grabed a yellow one. I thought, hold on this must be beginner's luck. So I told her to grab a blue one and an orange so on. and she did so with every color, but green and red..and then she knew brown but was obvious she only knew it cause it was the last one left. But, I'm pretty convinced that my little girl recognized her colors! I am super stoked. So, there will be more to practice in the future (with m&m's and a few other things), but what a great way to teach colors! You can teach them and reward them at the same time! Gee M&M's are so universal, I'm sure I could teach with jelly bellies too. I knew I was a preschool teacher for a reason!

[SUPER IDEA! We're so gonna head out to the m&m factory this weekend and get all the colors, kinda pricy but well worth the fun!]

**cool trick cool trick!**~yo gabba gabba

Put some Love on my Neck

2008-09-26T18:56:00.001-07:00

GUESS WHAT? I found a new hobby, there's this line of jewelry that I absolutely love and it's completly original, it's a line of make your own jewelry and I found some pieces that is just my style..Can't say this enough but I'm in love with the idea, with just a few tools, jump rings and clasps, my masterpieces were complete. I made one for my sister, and in the process of making earrings. I think I'm gonna try skipping the leather and put on some bling next time, I wanted these pieces simple so I can wear them all day

HOPE.BUTTERFLY

Samson No longer

2008-09-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

On friday Sept 12th Nick and I decided to cut Seth's hair before we flew to cali to see my family, this is his before picture, he's ignorance is bliss at the moment, little did he know, he'd be "Samson no longer"...As we we're combing and contemplating on the haircut that would suit him...Seth was really happy to see the new him..but not too long afterwards he started to cry right before we cut it, the realization of him parting with the hair he's been with for four years started to sink in..

But he arrived! With a new look and a big Smile!

The fininshed product! And we could see his neck for the first time in a long time!

Lailie's Silly Day

2008-09-12T02:06:00.001-07:00

Omg the funniest thing happened today, we were at the social security office getting Iliana's new SS# and as we were leaving, Lailie follows behind me, Lailie stops to look out the window at flowers, (little did she know it was a window).... I yell "let's go" and instead of turning and walking out the door she just takes one step forward, as if to continue on walking and..bang! forehead right into the glass window!, everyone saw and for the first time ever I saw her first expression of "humiliation" if she could talk she'd say "where did that window come from?" [forehead meet window, window meet forehead..not so nice to meet you!"]

Later we went to old navy, and she really wanted this pink soccer ball. She had her first tantrum at the store, because i took the ball away, I carried her out and as soon as I put her down she pried herself away from me, ran back inside through the sliding doors, and picked up the ball as if it were the last living thing on this planet, and said "peeease bawl!?" Only Lailie could get me from being upset at her to loving her in just a half a second, I felt so bad, my heart just melted, but i didn't create a happy ending cause she never got her ball, but she got over it quick when she saw a big fire truck outside the store. When Lailie throws a fit, it always has meaning behind it, never does she act like this randomly and that's why instead of it being annoying ......to me, it's adorable

Aloha Friday

2008-09-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

On a rainy day Seth and Lailie asked me if they could play with bubbles outside and watch the rain. It only lasted a moment but it was fun, we even made paper boats and raced them down the gutter, I remember when my dad used to make those for us as kids.. Now I'm a mommy making some for children of mine. Wow, how time flies..

When the rain dried up they played with chalk on the driveway then we went inside to wait for daddy, we usually don't come out on rainy days, but in vegas you have to savor every chance a rainy day comes along in the desert.

We decided to play poker tonight and Lailie even decided to play too and she put her good poker face on but Seth won the night....surprising, daddy lost and so did I.

Just wanted to share a little clip of "My Yana" (Iliana)
She's getting so big, but I love it because everytime she sees a face she wants to smile and talk.. She's so funny, it's amazing how much she enjoys conversation. I guess I'll always have a buddy to talk to when she's all grown, that's so nice to know, since I love to talk myself.

It's amazing how far she's come since sounding like this.....I miss her being a newbie already! babies grow way too fast

Welcome to Our place

2008-09-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to create a blog, since I write what goes on in our journal on a weekly basis, why not do it online for all to see, that way I can share with everyone the milestones of our children's lives, that is until they invent a 3-D virtual reality telephone, than we could be life like in eachothers homes. Well, just want to say welcome to our page, we're looking forward to sharing our thoughts, ideas, and days with you. Have a good day!