Holiday Baking

Ok, so there are somethings I am pretty good at, and there are some that I just cannot do. One of those things is baking. For some reason, I cannot bake. I always burn whatever I have in the oven. (Usually sweets). However, I can manage some minor baking here and there. For example these ready to bake cookies: they came out pretty, although I burned one batch. And here are my pies from Thanksgiving. They came out good, but somehow they took about 2 hours to make. (It just was not cooking all the way.. so I had to keep putting it in without burning the crust!)
Well, this holiday season, I am going to attempt to bake some homemade cookies to give out to friends as gifts. Hopefully they turn out ok, if not... I will be putting some store bought cookies in the gift bags. ;-) It's the thought that counts, right? :-)

Playing House

For the last 2 years I have been wanting to get a playhouse for Aaron. He has always loved playing inside of them. Last week, he made his very own out of couch cushions and a quilt (which, by the way, I taught myself to make!) Anyway, I think this year, we might actually get that playhouse afterall. He had so much fun pretending.

Thanksgiving all week long!

This year both of my parents are working on Thanksgiving day. But I still wanted to make a turkey and all the trimmings. We are planning to leave Friday morning spend the weekend in Vegas. So I was worried about cooking so much food the day before and leaving all of the leftovers at home for 3 days, so.... I decided to cook our Thanksgiving meal yesterday so we can enjoy the food all week long, and not have to worry about leftovers during our trip--- and spare us from cooking dinner for the next 3 days.(Yes, I am aware of how smart I am! ;-) I don't want to be boastful, but I'm quite proud of myself for getting all the cooking done by myself. Check out the turkey! Thanks to Joanna's recipe, my turkey is always juicy and moist! I love it!

There as a picture of Aaron posing by the food. He is sad because I was not done with the pies yet. (Just kidding, he just woke up from a nap.)

This is probably the first time my parents have had a complete Thanksgiving meal. When I was growing up, our Thanksgiving meal consisted of a turkey, white rice, pancit (noodles), lumpia, and other Filipino dishes brought by relatives. It was pretty exciting to share with them some traditional American dishes.

Thank goodness for Cool Cuts 4 Kids!

Whoever came up with the idea of Cool Cuts 4 Kids is a genius. We have been here for about 4-5 times already. The first 2 times were complete disasters, but it's getting better and better everytime. (In Okinawa, it takes two big Okinawan guys to hold him down for a haircut!) Tonight was the best one yet. He didn't cry at all, in fact, he was really enjoying himself. I'm sure that if we had gone somewhere else, we would not have even made it past the door. ;-) Doesn't he look so cute in his new do?

Getting ready for Christmas in Corona

So last weekend we decorated our Las Vegas home, this weekend we decorated our house in Corona. When Aaron and I woke up, we saw my parents putting the Christmas tree up. I was so excited because it's been 5 years since I have seen all of my parents Christmas stuff. When we were younger my parents would decorate every inch of our house. Nowaways, my parents only take out thier favorite stuff. I guess it's been too much work for them now. They even bought a smaller and skinnier tree. Nevertheless, I still got to see some of the things that I rememebered. This is a porcelain ferris wheel that plays music and goes around. Aaron loved it, but I have no idea why he felt the need to climb his plastic knights up and down it. He even tried to sit it up one of the seats. Crazy kid. It's going to a challenge to try to keep his hands off of this.
Here is Aaron in front of the tree. Don't you love that forced smile? I have to practically yell at him and give him an evil look just so he would stay long enough and get him smiling. Geez. Nonetheless, he's cute.
Here is a good smile. Looks genuine doesn't it? ;-) I'm going to take him to get his Chirstmas picture taken next week. I'm actually dreading it, knowing Aaron. He's so stubborn. He has a nice 1 year old picture. We never got a 2 year and 3 year portrait done (he wouldn't sit still and threw a tantrum). Hopefully he will be better this time.

Check out this new template!

I'm sure Brent will make me change this template to a more appropriate one for our family blog, but I couldn't resist! How cute is this??? Since Brent has not seen this yet, I will keep it up and enjoy the beauty that is: Hello Kitty! (I really need to have a daughter so I can get away with things like this!)

My Sister, the Star!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Getting our Groove On!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Blue's Clues

When Aaron was about 1 1/2, he loved Blues Clues. He would take one of his books and a crayon, sit in his "thinking chair" and watch the show. He loved it so much, that whenever the show came on, he would run around the house looking for his crayon and his "handy dandy notebook". Well, after a few months, he got tired of Blues Clues. This morning, I decided to put the DVD on and found him one of my notebooks. I was pleased to see that he remembered. He knew exactly what to do. He even sang along with the songs.

Christmas Tree

This weekend, we took our bi-weekly trip to our house in LV. We took that opportunity to put our Christmas tree up. I know it's early, but at least it's one less thing to worry about before Brent gets home. I will be moving back there after Thanksgiving to get the house ready before he returns home. He will be back December 9th. I love this tree. We bought this tree as soon as we got to Okinawa, after our wedding. Every year we add a new special ornament on it. It was fun to see the ornaments we added during the last four years. The first ones (there was like 3 or 4 for 2003) were presents from people (wedding presents). The second (2004) was an ornament commemorating Aaron's birth, then the third (2005) is from our favorite place on earth: Disneyland. And the last ornament(2006) is a Japanese ornament, to remember our last year in Okinawa. I wonder what this year's ornament will be? One from Vegas??? We'll see... ;-)

Oh yeah, here is a picture of Aaron giving Tigger a hug in his car. In his mind, Aaron was saying, "Hey Tigger, I haven't seen you since last winter! Oh, how I missed you!"

La Cucaracha! Ole!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Handbags By Vanessa

I just wanted to share with you that my friend, Vanessa started her own business making handbags. She is very talented with sewing and she has been making these cute bags! I already own one and I must say that it is very well made and durable enough to use everyday. They are perfect for diaper bags, purses, & totes. I just ordered this one and I can't wait to get it. She also lives in Hawaii, so she is able to make bags using fabric from Hawaii. She will also make you a bag from any fabric you send her! Please check out her website at http://www.handbagsbyvanessa.com/. You can also click on the link under Favorite Websites on the right side of my blog.

Four Years of Marriage!

Here is a complilation of our pictures of the last four years.

Four Year Anniversary

Some of you know that this month we had our four year annivesary. These flowers were sent to me by my husband. Don't they look pretty? Here is Aaron posing with this fake smile. He got in trouble just a few seconds before that picture because he kept playing with the flowers rather than giving me a smile. Here is his "not so happy" fake smile.

Harvest Carnival

As I predicted, the Harvest Carnival (although fun) was way too much for my son. He was so excited he did not know what to do with himself. He just has way too much energy, I can barely keep up. As tired as I am now, I'm glad that he got to have fun. Afterall it only happens once a year. This is one of the times when I wish Brent was around so we can take turns running after Aaron. Here is Aaron with this Buzz costume. Isn't he cute? One of his friends kept trying to push the buttons on his costume.
Here we are in line for the Daniel and the Lion's den maze. I was supposed to be helping in there, but I knew I would have my hands full with Aaron, so I passed. I actually never got to see the inside because as soon as we went in, Aaron freaked out so we had to leave.

Here is pic of me and Royce. He is like the brother I never had.
Here is me and Lizette. We came dressed as moms. ;-) We even brought kids to be props for our costumes j/k. This may be the first picture of us together. Our cameras are usually pointed at our kids.

Candy! Candy! Candy!

There were so much candy at the Harvest Festival! They were giving us handfuls and handfuls of candy at each booth. When we got home, we dumped it all out on the floor and Aaron practicaly rolled around in it! Like mother like son. Just kidding... I don't really do that. ;-)

Pumpkin Patch Today, Harvest Carnival Tomorrow!

Today we went to two different pumpkin patches. Aaron was so excited to see all the "punkins". He got to ride on some rides too! We are very excited to go to the Harvest Carnival tomorrow!

Gymboree Halloween Party

Here is my attempt to get a good picture. This kid refuses to sit still!
Showing off his muscles to the other Buzz Lightyears in the room. (There were three.)

As Aaron's last day in Gymboree, I signed him up to attend a Halloween party. I figured that it will get him excited for the upcoming Harvest Carnival on Halloween night. The kids were all dressed in thier costumes. They got to play games, eat snacks, and took home some goodies. We had a lot of fun in Gymboree, but we will not be attending for a while since Aaron and I will be returning home pretty soon.

October 26, 2003 (Four years ago)

Happy Birthday Isa!

We had a surprise birthday party tonight for Isa. Everyone made "pretend" plans to go out to eat after church. But everyone except Lester went! So Isa thought that we all ditched her and did not care about spending time with her on her birthday. Little did she know that we were all at her house decorating and getting ready for her suprise party! By the time she got home, she was sad and depressed... but then she got really happy when we all jumped out and surprised her!