We’re spending Christmas week in LA as usual. It’s cold here! Natalie has caught a cold and has been somewhat grumpy, but it hasn’t stopped us from going places and having some fun. David has only had Pinkberry once so far, probably because it’s too cold to really enjoy. No doubt we’ve been eating alot. We tried a classic french dip sandwich shop that David saw on TV. The place is called Philippes. The beef dip was pretty good, meat was tender. We’ve also gone to a few of our favorite ramen and noodle houses, our favorite burrito joint – Michoacan, and tried new dumpling place in Arcadia (Dumpling House) — the steamed mini buns were delicious!

Having lunch with Uncle Tommy

We got new indoor slippers from Chinatown to keep our feet warm

Uncle Way came by to hang out

Po Po practiced her English by reading the kids a story

Staying warm

Natalie isn’t feeling well and she came up to me today with her hand on her head and said “Mom, my brain hurts.”

We took a mini road trip to Merced this weekend to visit cousin Jay. Actually, Jay is Natalie and Tyler’s uncle. The drive was about 2 hours. We got there around noon and stayed for a little over 3 hours and then headed back. David didn’t come because he was sick so it was just me and Mandy, actually just me drove. The kids had fun playing with Jay and watching Shanghai Noon with him while eating Pizza. They didn’t play outside cuz it was too cold!

Every year my company has a holiday event just for kids called Winter Wonderland and every year there’s a different theme (or so I think, this is my 2nd year). This year’s theme was “It’s a small world”. Here are some pictures of the many activities that kids got to participate in.

Got to meet Santa:

Sat in a sleigh

The kids got to “build a bear”. Tyler picked a lion.

Natalie picked a frog

Then at another station, they got to decorate t-shirts for their animals

Painted lanterns

Colored dragons

Decorated goodie bags to hold their stuff

Colored fishys

Had some snacks and treats in the cafeteria while watching Mulan.

Made gingerbread cookies

Natalie (with the help of dad) built a gingerbread house

Natalie had her 2nd dentist appointment on Saturday. She had a short cleaning which consisted of flossing and polish, then finished by some flouride treatment. No cavities! That evening, Uncle Khang came over with some friends that were visiting from Denver and Big Uncle so we had dinner at a new restuarant recommended by one of our neighbors. The place is called Chili Garden in Milpitas. The food was good and decently priced.

On Sunday, we went over to Uncle Chubber’s to help decorate his Christmas trees. He had an indoor and outdoor one. The kids enjoyed putting up the ornaments and helping Uncle Chubber decorate the front yard.

Natalie was brave

The uncles and dad

Delicious food

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, your light is shining brightly… (Nat’s new song)

Man, this tree is heavy!

Can someone help me please?

On Friday, we went to Kai’s birthday party at Pump It Up! Kai is one of Tyler’s old buddies from Rosamaria’s daycare. The kids had a great time. At first, Tyler wanted David to go on all the slides with him, but after a few runs, he got comfortable and took to it on his own.

The kids watching the safety video before entering the fun room. That’s Kai next to Tyler.

We dug out one of Tyler’s old footed sleepers that he didn’t really get a chance to wear last year. It was kind of snug and he felt wierd in it, but he liked his pajamas! David says they look fem.

Natalie’s preschool had parent-teacher night tonight. It was scheduled for an hour but really only lasted half. Snacks were served: crackers and cheese, gingerbread cookies, apples, spinach with dressing, chex mix and juice. Natalie snagged 2 gingerbread cookies, 1 for Tyler. Parent-teacher night was pretty disappointing. The director basically just made some announcements and shared some upcoming events. Nothing a take home newsletter could’ve covered. There was no opportunity for teacher feedback or discussion on Nat’s development (they’re saving for April.)

One interesting thing is that her preschool was selected by PBS to do some developmental research on the preschoolers starting in January. Maybe we’ll get some insightful information on Natalie one day.

We spent Thanksgiving at Yee Po’s house this year. Woke up kinda early to get some food ready so we could head over sooner than later. I made prime rib and spam musubi and brought caeser salad and pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream. Uncle chubber made the turkey (it was delicious!), mash potatoes, green bean caserole, mac-n-cheese, biscuits & gravy, and corn. We ate and ate and went back on Friday to eat again. After dinner, we looked through the ads in the newspapers to see which deals were good for black friday shopping.

Uncle Willy acting like she’s cooking

The turkey

Uncle Chubber and his amazing meal

The food

The gang hanging around

Checking out the black friday deals

We picked up our mail from the post office after returning from our trip and found several holiday catalogs and mailers. I still can’t believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Christmas is around the corner! We started our Christmas shopping last weekend. I’m determined to get done early this year.

Natalie’s like a broken record, “I want one too.” I keep telling her she’ll just have to add it to her wish list to Santa Claus. For the most part, she is ok with that. On Sunday, after a long day of shopping (2 malls & Costco!), we stopped for a warm bowl of yummy pho.