Random Pictures From Christmas Eve

Weekend Projects

I was a very busy knitter this weekend! I'm still putting off that 2nd sock and of course I found some hats to knit where my darling model Josh agreed to display. He isn't really as miserable as he looks, he just takes his job very seriously. This first hat is a rolled brim beret which I had promised my dentist's assistant a few months ago. I have a teeth cleaning appointment in a couple of weeks so I'm set for that. Very quick and super easy to knit...I can see myself whipping these up for some friends. I never used to like browns but now I do enjoy them even though I still don't wear it too often.

Here is my 2nd hat from the weekend. It has that beret type feel to it but it's saggy, baggy and trendy. I like how it looks....I can either tuck my hair inside for those bad hair days or wear it as is. I'll be keeping this one for myself for now.

Winter Break

It's unusually cold these past couple of days so the kids and I have enjoyed playing the latest video games Tyler received for Christmas. The first one is Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii. Omg, this was a bit challenging but once we figured out the controls we had a blast trying to win a medal. The field and track events are especially fun like the hammer throw, triple jump and javelin. Tyler is skilled at the trampoline where I am seriously lame. I do love the archery event which is my favorite. We have to take a break because my arms are sore from all the flapping and waving we have to do!!

Last night we opened up Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii and wow, another great game for us. Tyler absolutely loves this game and it even has a co-op mode where I help gather crystals/gems for him because he is usually running around like a headless chicken. He does manage to complete the tasks but doesn't spend time exploring the area as thoroughly as I would. This game looks like lots of fun but I would probably get dizzy from it after a while. There are times when Mario is upside down and the camera is rotating all over the place.

Yesterday was a nice day for Josh. He understood it was his birthday and that he is now 5 years old. Tyler and Hector went to the store to pick out some Star Wars action figures for him. We headed over to Kids Concepts for them to play at for about 2 hours. It's a nice place for the kids to run around in the tunnels, ball pit and slides. The parents sit and relax while the kids burn off their excess energy. After that we went over to my mom's place to have cupcakes and open Josh's presents. It is a bummer that his b-day is so close to Christmas but we make do and we'll have a day where we'll head over to Legoland for another celebration.

Happy Birthday

Today is Joshua's birthday!! My youngest is 5 years old. I can't believe it. Joshua has been a source of great joy and love to our family. We are so happy with his progress in the last 2 years and wish him more continued success for his transition to kindergarten next year. It is nice to see that family members can see his improvement over the years.

Christmas Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful Christmas...how about you? We spend Christmas Eve at my SIL Lupe's house where the clan gathers for great food and fun. We brought along the Wii for entertainment for kids and adults which is always lots of fun. I made my cheesy parmesan potatoes and also some parmesan artichoke dip to complement the excellent rib roast. Everything was awesome. Most of Hector's family was there along with some nephews and niece who are all grown up and have families of their own. Lots of loud laughter and talking throughout the night plus some frantic last second gift wrapping in the bedroom with just the girls.

Like usual, everyone gets gift cards from us but I managed to knit some bracelet purses to put the gift cards inside for the girls. I also brought along all the hats I knit this year and let the girls pick out a hat. That worked out really well and the kids got a hat too. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so maybe I can get a pic from one of them later.

The kids got some really cute and soft bathrobes from my MIL which they wore right away. Hector gave me my gift which was the iPod touch. Sweeeet! And Carlos hooked me up with lots of itunes cards so I am set! Anyways, we stayed way too late so after getting everything gathered up and in the car, we had to drive home and arrived home at 1:30am. Ugh. We put the kids to bed then arranged the gifts and left cookies for Santa. Phew!

Of course, Tyler woke me up at 7:30am to open presents and I managed to hold him off until 9am when we all got up. The kids were so excited...Joshua absolutely loves his Jedi Starfighter and Nintendo DS while Tyler wanted to build his Lego Star Wars kit. They both love the Mario vs. Sonic Olympics games for the Wii and I admit I like it too. I got a shop vac for Hector and his own Nintendo DS with Zelda game.

Unfortunately, Hector was called into work around 11:30am Christmas day and was gone for most of the day and then had to spend the night at the hospital after 5pm until 7am the next day. I took the kids over to my mom's where we had our Chinese lunch and opened more presents. I got a very nice wrap and Best Buy gift card. My mom loves her digital picture frame loaded with over 100 pictures of the boys. I was still so exhausted from the night before so I crashed hard and slept for about 3 hours. :) Overall, we had a busy but very special Christmas time and now it's over or is it?????

Keeping Busy

I have totally unmotivated in completing the 2nd sock so I hang my head in shame. I love the result but it's the getting there part that has bogged me down. Instead of just buckling down and knit the darn thing, I've taken the avoidance route and knit other simpler things instead. Plus I found a cute gift card bag that I can knit which can double as a little purse. That is so much more fun than knitting another sock. In addition, I've knitted several hats and a cute wine bag.

In the mean time, the kids are officially on winter break. Carlos has arrived to be with us for the holidays while I'm knitting gift bags. The kids had a blast at the park, riding bikes and scooters and playing with their jump rocket. A perfect day after several days of rain and gloom. Josh does have a cold/cough and had a slight fever but he is still his happy-go-lucky self with a long nap in the afternoon.

Another friend arrived with his 3 kids late last night and left sometime early the next morning aroudn 6am. Maybe they'll come by later this afternoon for some proper visiting. The kids will enjoy it. My friend Kat and her cousin might make an appearance later today so it'll be a busy place here. Sunday night is the Social Distortion concert at the House of Blues Anaheim so Hector and I will be making our way there tomorrow night.

Shouldn't You be in Vegas?

Do you ever think that your "twin" or look-a-like exists somewhere in the world? Not an exact duplicate but pretty darn close? The last couple of times we went to a hockey game, we see a guy there in the next section that makes us say, "Hey, Carlos is here!" It's become our inside joke but man, this guy makes us do a double take.

Just for fun

I was eating some plain M & M's the other day and I felt something odd in the bag. It wasn't round but oblong like a caplet or pill so I was kind of alarmed that maybe something got in the bag that didn't belong. This is what I pulled out...a freaky M & M!!

The Ol' Switcheroo

So for those who have been keeping up with my blog, I've been taking a Photoshop class which has simplified and clarified some of the tools and tricks for me tremendously. I learned to Clone out unwanted objects, brighten, select and move objects from one picture to another and turn my photos into art-like pieces.

I had to ask my teacher how to transfer a face/head from one photo to replace a unwanted face from another photo and it was based on the stuff we learned so I just had to try it and see how it went. It is usually difficult to take a picture of a group and have everyone in it looking at the camera and/or keeping their eyes open etc. I usually take multiples pictures of the kids hoping that there is one where both are looking decent. Well, those days are in the past. I still take lots of pictures but I have a trick up my sleeve to change that.

Here is the picture that I wanted to use but Tyler (in the blue jacket) doesn't quite look as good as he could. Josh looks good so I decide to 'fix' Tyler's head/face.

Here is a great picture of Tyler that I will transfer his head onto the first picture.



And here is the result: Both kids look awesome and I now have that perfect picture of them.

Christmas Shows

With the cooler weather going on and most of our shopping done, I had some time to watch some movies and programs. I usually don't have the attention span for long movies plus I get interrupted a lot.

1. John Tucker Must Die. Okay, not a Christmas movie but I have a fondness for lame teen movies and this one fit the bill. Three girls find out they are dating the same guy and decide to get revenge with another girl as bait.
2. Shrek the Halls. Very funny and it was all packed into 30 minutes. The kids lost their interest in it though because of the next show on my list but I enjoyed this program. I might watch it again because the kids were being a bit loud so I couldn't really enjoy it thoroughly.
3. Winnie the Pooh Christmas. Or something like that...Tyler watched it and liked it very much. I heard Hector laugh too but I honestly have no clue as to what happens in this show. On a side note: As I typed in Winnie the Pooh, Josh was looking over my shoulder and read what I had just typed out loud. Could have bowled me over with a feather!! :)
4. Deck The Halls. Hector had mentioned that he heard that this movie was funny. Hmm, I don't think so. It has some funny moments but not many. Danny de Vito moves into Matthew Broderick's neighborhood and proceeds to outdo his neighbor in the Christmas department ie. he wants his house to be visible from space (yeah, right). I sat through the whole movie because I wanted to finish knitting another hat.

On a Roll

My wonderful Persimmon mini-muffins that have disappeared! The kids love these so I made a couple of batches for us and Hector's work. So yummy!!

More pics

I'll continue catching up with the pictures in my camera today.

This was our view from our hotel room at Primm, Nevada. You know when you're in Vegas when there is roller coaster outside your window. Yeah, I went on the Desperado about 15 years ago and there is a very scary first drop (hey, it's this one) where you descend into the bowels of the casino.

The police department has Santa visit various areas of our fine city. They send out police cars to block traffic in front and behind while Santa stops to visit all the good children. This year was a first that Joshua went up on the platform with Santa.

Catching Up

I downloaded the pictures from my little digital camera just now so I'll focus on these for a bit.

Extreme closeup of a sock that I started a month ago that have been set aside so I can finish my Christmas stuff. The recipient will be the person who can fit their foot into it. I've only done the leg part and I need to wait until I have complete quiet so I can start on the tricky part of the heel turn/flap because I'm trying to knit 2 socks at once and haven't figured out that part yet.

This is what greeted us when we arrived in Las Vegas at the Paris. Job requirements: Must be able to roller skate and wear skimpy spandex outfits while people gawk at you and take your picture.

My Eiffel tower shot Las Vegas style...

Tinkle

Josh's potty training is going great and mostly he stays dry at night. After a brief trial of Pull-ups at night which stayed dry, I switched him to underwear. That worked okay for 2 weeks then Josh had a couple of accidents so I went back to the nightime Pull-ups.

The other night I woke up when Josh walked into our bedroom. Normally he just climbs into bed with us but he just stood at the foot of the bed so I asked him if he had to go potty. Josh said yes so I helped him in the dark and put him back to sleep in his bed. Inside I was thrilled that he was able to wake up to go to the bathroom so I'll see how he does for a little while longer before we get rid of the Pull-ups.

The weekend was uneventful. I enjoyed my fire and knit on another Christmas project which is about 50% complete. I helped out a friend with a photo crisis which I had to remember what I learned in Photoshop only 4 weeks ago. I made a double batch of persimmon bread and will try to freeze the leftover persimmon pulp for next week. Both kids love the bread and muffins so I think it'll be a fall tradition. I have lots of pictures to post as soon as I upload them..yeah I'm lazy.

It's a Mystery

My dear hubby stated (out of the blue), " No one looks good in leopard. No one except a leopard." This statement was funny since my man said this and he really has no interest in fashion. But he does notice sometimes what women are wearing especially if it is against all common sense etc. or maybe she didn't bother to look in the mirror before leaving the house. So to clear everything, all animal prints should be outlawed as clothing.

We'll be watching you or you will be fined.

Power shopping

More shopping today!! This time Hector and I hit Costco and Target and did some major damage at both places. My online order of our holiday cards were done and I found my Mom's present and some more for the kids.

We took a break after that to clean out the garage a bit (okay, Hector did that part) while I strung up more Christmas lights on the bushes etc. My mom stopped by to drop off a Santa light and snowman light to add to our growing light extravaganza! Then at Target we bought more lights for the upper story and other bushes plus I'm waiting for some to be delivered to us. We're going all out this year and the kids are really enjoying it too.

So far everything that I ordered online is on its way...my calendars are already finished! Woo hoo. Hector ordered some stuff for the OR staff so we had to get 60 bags for that. I offered to print out labels for the bags but he says he'll use a Sharpie to write. Wuhhh?? Is he crazy? :)

Tonight is very windy and chilly but I'm cozy and warm with a crackling fire. I'm happy.

Satisfaction

Yeah, so I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30am to day to get ready and the kids set for the day before my 8 am. appointment at Josh's school. Ugh, I probably should have been up earlier since I had to explain (again) to my mom that

1. she had to walk Tyler to school this morning in case I didn't get back in time.
2. no, Josh was not staying home but coming with me to the meeting. I didn't want her to have to deal with 2 kids and walk to school.
3. Tyler knows the way to school and he knows where to enter etc.
4. yes, I had Photoshop class today. Every Wednesday. Until December 14.

Plus getting the kids fed, dressed, teeth brushed and Tyler's lunch made. It was like adding another child to the mix!!

After the meeting, I headed over to Target to pick up some Christmas ornaments and gifts for the boys. My mom is stumped every year for their presents so I have to put on my personal shopper hat and help her out. Next stop, Toys R us for Hector to see if there were any Wiis (this is for a co-worker that is on the search for one). As soon I got there, 2 woman were chatting in front of the store and one of them had a Wii in her bag. GASP!! I rush over to the video games and there is a long line of about 10 people. I didn't have a very good feeling since I saw only one Wii behind the counter. I stood in line and it turned out that half of them wanted Guitar Hero (ha, already have mine!), another person wanted a Nintendo DS and 3 people in front of me bought a Wii. But I was lucky and managed to get one! Yeah! I also ran into an old UCLA co-worker of Hector's so we chatted and caught up with one another for a bit. Then it was on to the mall where I bought some educational scientific presents for Tyler and on a whim stopped at Ahhs where I snagged some cool T-shirts for the kids and stocking stuffers. I managed to do some serious shopping in 2 hours so I was pretty pleased with myself.

Of course, I'm exhausted and my sweet darling hubby is buying me my favorite chicken tostada so I can have dinner in bed! I'm spoiled!!

Busyness

Today was productive...I have completed about 85% of the calendar I am putting together. It took some time to wade through a year's amount of pictures, making sure they were edited/enhanced properly and uploaded. I also noticed that I have a lot more pics of Josh than Tyler because Josh has a shorter school day than Tyler and Tyler has less patience for picture taking.

I want to try and set up our Christmas tree and hopefully take some Christmas photos to sneak in the calendar. So I'm off to do that now so wish me luck!

I had the parent/teacher conference for Tyler this afternoon and it went very well. There may be a chance Tyler might be tested for GATE so we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow we have Josh's conference at 8am (ugh) so I'll be half asleep for that meeting.

Party Time

On Saturday night we ventured out into the chilly, crisp air to 90210 for Hector's work holiday party. This year it was held at the The Prime Grill which is a kosher steakhouse. The kids were invited and they were excited to socialize with some other kids their age. We always bring some Gameboys to keep them amused and like usual, the games were a bit hit. Dinner is usually served later because of the Sabbath and the kids get antsy for food (me too). Overall the dinner was good but not spectacular. The room where we had dinner was actually outside in a tent with about 4 heaters. I had some spicy tuna things, ribeye steak and profiteroles for dessert. I still like Morton's of Chicago better.

We left around 10:30pm because we have to get the kids to bed and just when I pull onto the 405 freeway a CHP is about 100 yards ahead of traffic slowing cars down to a complete stop. Great. I'm still on the onramp stopped and some cars are inching over to the right trying to exit but they can't. A BMW pulls over to shoulder in front of me and stops; next thing I know a young woman opens her door (driver's side), leans out and start puking! ARgH!! Ugh...and I can't move. We were stuck stopped for about 20 minutes so all that the people in their cars could do was watch this girl barf. Either she partied too hard or ate some bad food. Well I hope it was the latter because she shouldn't have been driving if she was drinking. Finally she stopped and the traffic started up again. There is a lot of construction still going on in that area so the CHP stopped traffic to get all the heavy equipment and trucks into place. Ugh....so that was how our evening ended.

I did manage to knit 2 more 'fall leaves' hat so I'm pleased how productive I was in that department but now I need to do lots of laundry and straighten up around the house.

Tyler brought home his report card and he did very well this term. Keep up the good work!!