a very special christmas:

My parents live a little closer to Manny's parents now, so we all got together on Christmas Day.  First we opened presents at Grandma's house, and then we went to Puo-Puo's (my mom's) for lunch.  The kids got a lot of presents from Grandma and Aunt Dolly.  Naomi started getting upset because she didn't get to open all her presents first, and then when she got to her final present, she complained that she just got mail (it was in a brown package).  All was well in the end.  The first day we got to Grandma's, some family stopped by, and the kids were polite little angels.  By this day, they were getting pretty selfish.  It's hard for me to not get angry and mean when that happens, but I know I have to pray about and work on my self-control.  I guess that's my own form of selfishness.  I was at my mom's primarily to fix her technical/computer issues, which took a while, but the kids behaved for the most part.  My parents told me not to be so hard on Lucas when he acted up.  They were a hundred times harder on me, but I guess your views change as a grandparent.  :)  My dad even told me that kids need their freedom.  What?  Who are you?!  Haha.  Lucas was very happy to play catch with my dad.  He seldom gets to throw anything at home.  I was glad to see my dad bond with him.  Naomi had told my in-laws that if they got to know my parents like she did, they'd see they're pretty nice people.  Okay, three updates for today.  More later.

Naomi excited about her new Hello Kitty coat pajamas.  Lucas received Cars pajamas.

Naomi also got a couple video games.

Lucas very happy with his present.  After Manny assembled it, it was even better than we expected.

Grandma got the kids personalized teddy bears with their names on them.

About to sit down for a feast my mom made.

Naomi doing a Taiwan/U.S. cheer.

Lucas going to Puo-Puo for comfort after getting in trouble for messing up the bathroom.

The family.  My mom asked me to crop out our feet, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Lucas making funny faces with Gong-Gong (my dad).  They played catch for about an hour.

christmas eve party:

Manny's mom's side of the family has a Christmas Eve party each year.  It's always special and a little different each year.  

Lucas helping Manny and me fill the children's stockings.

After I put some towels away in the linen closet and closed the door, I heard, "Help me!"  I ran around the house and didn't see Lucas.  I assumed he was in the bathroom next to the closet, but then I saw this little hand opening the door from the inside!  He had climbed up into the second shelf.  That little rascal!

Naomi looking pretty for the party.  

The little ones double-dipping in the chocolate fountain.  :P

The kids are always happy to see their auntie.

The mariachi put his sombrero on Naomi and her two cousins.

Lucas and Grandma swaying to the music.

Naomi doing the limbo her way.

Neither kid was willing to take the Santa photo without a grandparent.

After a sugar high, Lucas repeatedly waves hello to a fixture on the tent.

Us with Santa.  I got a haircut and digital perm, in case you noticed anything different.

This looks like an child's play picture of Santa and the kids in a circle, but in great Mexican style, they're dancing to "Oye Como Va."  

grandma's--fun for kids, dates for us:

We had a great stay at my in-laws' once again.  Aside from Naomi throwing up every drive, things have been much easier in terms of traveling with the kids.  They were so excited to see their grandparents.  That Friday, Manny and I got to be out pretty much the entire day, the first of two all-day dates.  When we got home, Lucas didn't even turn around to acknowledge us and Naomi didn't welcome us home either.  Seems like they did just fine without us.  

Manny and I first went to see Mission Impossible, which was pretty good in terms of action and suspense.  I like seeing action films on the big screen, and it's hard to believe Cruise still does his own stunts.  These 50-year-old men are in way better shape than me.  I liked the filming locations as well (Russia, Dubai, and India).  Afterwards, we walked through some stores together (something we love to do) and went to a newly opened Asian buffet for a late lunch.  The start of much indulgent holiday eating to come.  We were going to go home, but Grandma encouraged us to enjoy ourselves, so we saw a second film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It is a dark movie with intense scenes and language, R-rated, so prepare to be disgusted in some scenes.  We'd seen the original Swedish version, which we liked more.  The actresses really do the character justice in both films, but in the "Americanized" version, Lisbeth seems a little softer and weaker, to the point where she becomes more an assistant than the key player.  They flipped the script a little on the romance between her and the journalist, which didn't make sense to us.  Oh well, at least they got rid of the blue sweater.  We enjoyed our day together, just like old times but even better.

Lucas and Grandpa at the pond.

Lucas working hard.

Sweet photo of Naomi and Dexter.

Naomi likes this photo.

the true christmas spirit:

"The True Christmas Spirit" - A song Naomi wrote and wanted me to post for you.

 

lyrics (sort of impromptu, I think):
The true Christmas spirit is not about presents or the decorations,
not even tasty cookies.
It's not about Santa, not about the stockings.
What it's all really about is the Lord Christ Jesus.
That's what it's really about.
Decorations are nice.  Cookies are nice.
Toys are nice, too, but Jesus is the one true present of Christmas.
We celebrate His birth on the Christmas.
There's so many great things about Jesus and God.
God created the world.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
They are so good.
[Enter Lucas]

a's birthday party:

We celebrated Naomi's favorite neighbor's birthday today.  It was good to get to know some of the other parents from our neighborhood.  Naomi did well, despite not knowing more than a couple kids and feeling a bit lonely for most of it.  I think this was our eighth party at P.ump it Up this year!  I guess it's just a popular venue at this age.  Naomi's looking forward to a home party again, although she was glad to have the big party there, too.  The invitation said it would be a glow-in-the-dark party, so several of the kids wore white for it, but they didn't do it after all.  It's okay; we had a lot of fun anyway.  This was the first party with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, which was very yummy.  It was interesting to learn that so many non-Chinese kids there spoke Chinese.  We live near a preschool/private school with a Chinese program, but it's outside our current schedule and budget.  The birthday girl's mom works there, as did my cousin.  Learning languages has been super slow for Naomi, and even English has been a challenge for Lucas, but I'm not giving up yet.

Manny watched Lucas while we were gone.  Lucas actually took a nap after a rough night.  He did "excellent" in his Sunday school class today, after doing a very poor job of listening and behaving last week.  It's tough on Sundays.  He's usually tired, thrown off his routine, excited to have Manny home, etc.  But I know in time, he'll improve.  We'll just keep working on it and trying to get him settled better at night.  

Naomi with a new friend going down the big slide together.

Group photo-silly shot.

Happy birthday, A!

Naomi and the birthday girl enjoying the yummy cake.

lantern wonderland:

We went to the G.lobal Winter Wonderland on Friday night.  I'm a big fan of colored lights--lasers, Christmas lights, lanterns, LEDs, disco balls, etc.  After the event, I saw a lot of negative reviews from people claiming false advertisement, but not having seen the commercials or website (Manny did the planning), I thought it was great.  Its Chinese origin was pretty evident, but that appealed to me.  I like lanterns and cartoonish displays.  The kids seemed to enjoy everything except the roaring dinosaur.  Lucas put on a smile and a brave face for Manny when he heard and saw it, but later told me at home that he was really scared of it and wanted to cry.  Interesting how that is.  The kids were pretty great, considering how cold and late it was and how we skipped the food and rides.

Entering the gates.

Giant Chinese lantern.

Peacock display with flashing lights.

Chinese-style arches.

Lighted butterflies, with Chichen Itza replica in the background.

Taj Mahal replica--so bright the auto flash didn't go off.

Beautiful dragon boat floating on actual water.  I was born in the year of the dragon, which is next year!

o christmas tree:

We haven't put up our humble tree the past couple years.  I was thinking it would be more trouble (breakable) than it was worth.  This year Manny suggested we just leave off the glass ornaments.  Good idea!  I only allowed Lucas one plastic ornament to touch, an Elmo with reindeer antlers.  It sounds so strict, but within a day, he interpreted "yours" as "yours to throw against the wall and break."  So that was the end of that.  I've kept every ornament ever given to me, and that's probably the most special part of the tree itself.  At one point I thought to make an ornament for every year of our marriage, but I ended up just making one for the year we got engaged.  I love watching the kids decorate and admire the tree.  We didn't do that growing up, and it's a wonderful tradition now.  I'm thinking of getting and/or making advent ornaments eventually.  This year we're using a simple advent nativity scene that has flaps with verses behind each one for each day.  

The tree is about six feet tall, and we put it up on the end table.

Lucas helping decorate with an Elmo ornament.  :)  Poor Elmo didn't survive.

cec and siblings:

We returned to C.huck E. Cheese for the first time in a long time.  It was a nice double birthday celebration for T and T.  They grow so fast!  Lucas is scared of the spinning disco lights there, but at least he didn't cry inconsolably this time.  He liked playing the basketball game.  I'd discussed with Naomi beforehand how she ought to pay a little more attention to her brother, but whenever she's around friends her age, she gets too excited and forgets him.  It's tough for them to play together, because there's a sizable gap in their maturity, personality, and interests.  They do love each other anyway, but I get the inevitable, "I wish I had a sister or an older sibling" from Naomi.  Lucas, on the other hand, lives for his bigger sister.  She's pretty much the only close friend he has at the moment.  I'm sure it'll change over time, but I hope that their bond will continue through their lives.

Lucas having pizza with olives, Naomi's favorite.

Lucas playing Mario Kart on my lap.

Lucas and T shooting some hoops.

Again and again.

Naomi and (other) T on a ride simulator.

Yay for birthdays!

friday night food and fun:

Last week, Naomi went to a community-run indoor festival for school-age children.  It's held twice a year.  She enjoys being dropped off in a gymnasium full of children, even if she doesn't know anyone.  She just walked around and made a couple friends on her own.  In the meantime, I drove around with Lucas looking at lights and then went home and waited for Manny.  We decided to make a trip to Costco, which is a little easier with one less child to look after.  

Naomi had a great time.  On the way home, at a gas station, we saw a food truck that competed in The Great Food Truck Race.  We got a chicken burrito, short rib taco, and short rib sliders, all very tasty.  Manny's coworker has been raving about this food truck.  It's not your typical roach coach.

  

Naomi with the mask she made.  The theme this time was superheroes.

One of the short-rib sliders.  They were a bit too spicy for Naomi, but she still liked it.

end-of-year field trip:

We had our end-of-year party/field trip to C.hristmas in the Park and the T.ech Museum (extra periods to deter search engine crawling) with the ISP.  We first arrived and enjoyed some delicious ebelskivers (Danish pancake doughnut holes) and hot chocolate with marshmallows.  We then walked into the Fairmont to see the gingerbread town and giant chocolate nutcrackers display.  The hotel usually has a holiday train exhibit, which unfortunately wasn't there when we went, but I think it worked out since we were short on time.  We went to the museum and checked out the semiconductor exhibits upstairs before heading to the cafe for lunch.  The kids went to see the IMAX showing of Arabia.  It was nice that Naomi had a group to go with, so I could stay outside with Lucas.  Lucas ran around the museum and got some wiggles out, but he was a little overwhelmed by all the classes on field trips there and wanted to go home.  After the movie was over, we went to tour C.hristmas in the Park before returning to the museum to see the other exhibits.  The field trip classes were gone, so we had most of the place to ourselves.  Lucas couldn't get enough of the roller coaster simulator.  The seats just rumbled, but didn't move, and the track was projected on the wall.

Naomi happily handing out Disney candy canes.

Some of the students.

A huge nutcracker made of chocolate.

Naomi creating art with other students, which was then combined and projected on a screen.

Double helix made of cookbooks.

Lucas creating music with a touch screen.

E, K, and Naomi at C.hristmas in the Park.

The moving train.

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together.

Back to the museum.  Naomi on screen harnessing energy.  I believe this one used the placement of mirrors to focus solar energy.

K and Lucas "riding" the roller coaster that K and Naomi designed.