The Lee-Espiritu Fam

2010-05-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

I am the author of 3 blogs.

Why?

Well, I started our family blog for the obvious. Being a military family away from friends and fam, I started it to keep everyone updated. Except, I failed to realize that also being a military family, you run into slumps...most noticeably when you're a "single married spouse/mom" (SMS/M) and/or the computer is in a different room on a different floor in your house away from your kids. Also, when I have the time to blog, I'd rather spend it with my husband with whom I've probably spent 1/2 of our relationship actually being in his physical presence. I also didn't want to clutter our family blog with my own personal stuff since well, it's our family blog.

Besides my family, my passion is cooking and eating. So, I started my food blog.

Since I'm starting to lose steam, time, and energy on giving the appearance of maintaining three...I'm going to simplify and put everything on my personal blog...except I'll still double post so any foodies won't have to read my ramblings & babblings...except in my food posts.

I'll still blog with the same frequency...which is occasionally. ;o)

Mom n' Me Monday

2010-03-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yes...still being lazy and copying a post from my blog...

I promise that I'll start having some newer photos...but in the meantime, this was one of the most recent photos I could dredge up with me & my little man. This week's Mom n' Me Monday features a little one who was supposed to be Kaia's little sister...but someone had other plans for me. I remember when we were told we were having a boy and all the panic that set in inside me. Being the eldest of two girls and already being halfway there with Kaia, I thought and hoped that I would have my two girls.

Instead, we had Jaron...who turned out to be one of the biggest blessings of my life. He is the most cuddliest, sweetest, funniest, and smartest little boys ever. I am constantly thankful for this little man who is everything I never knew I needed (well, that goes for BOTH kids).

Everyday I'm reminded of why I'm so blessed to be this guy's #1 Girlfriend and enjoying that status while it lasts.

Mom n' Me Monday

2010-03-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is a copy from my personal blog...because I'm LAZY like that. ;o)

My wonderful friend Melissa over @ The Zookeeper's Diary (a must visit if you haven't already) participated in Julie's (from The Peanut Gallery...exit here...also a must read) Mom n' Me Monday. A fantastic idea if A) you're a Mom and B) you're the sole photographer in the family.

So, since I thought my kids were destined to grow up wondering where Mom was during all their trips, important times, and just hanging out...I guess I'll start having some proof that I wasn't just their personal chef and photographer.

Not that I mind...but maybe it'll be nice to see myself years from now and think "Wow, you look pretty good as your pre-Botox-Juvaderm-Restalyn self!"

JUST KIDDING!!!

I have enough on my plate to worry about what bad things I'll pass along to my daughter, I don't want (body) image issues to be one of them.

So, since I don't know when was the last time I took a photo with my kids (which almost always involves you seeing my arms outstretched as I hold the camera)...here's one with Kaia, my eldest, taken while goofing off with our brand new toy (an iMac) in October '09.

I swear...this girl freakin' rocks. She's got an empathetic heart of gold. A sense of humor that is beyond her years. A memory that's going to bite me in the butt in a few years...

And a smile that continually melts my heart and reminds me why it's so awesome to be her mom.

Check Out These Guns!

2010-03-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

If you've seen Night at the Museum 2...you should be able to recognize this scene. Jaron was a bit hyper when I asked if I could film him. So...without further ado...take 1 & take 2 of a scene from Night at the Museum 2.

and

Snowmageddon

2010-02-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

I. Love. Snow.

However, I think I'd be pretty disenchanted with it had I been living back home in DC. Then again, a week off with Sean & the kids...sounds pretty nice. Unless you don't have electricity and suffer from cabin fever and Sean & the kids start driving you crazy. Thank goodness we live down here. ;o)

Just kidding.

We did get to experience the white stuff last weekend and our snow-loving pooch was in heaven. The roads were still a mess but I'm sure waaaaaaaaaay better than a week prior. Case in point, almost missing our hair appointment because streets of Bethesda were being plowed so entire streets were blocked off due to snow removal...because there is so much of the white stuff there is also nowhere to put it. So, the whole weekend I saw dump trucks from WV & NC that apparently were contracted to haul the snow away.

While in Bethesda...Kaia accomplished her goal of this past year. Donating her hair. Donations required at least 10 inches of hair. She donated 14 and wanted to go longer...but A-yi and I were a little concerned what if she freaked having such short hair. Danggit...we actually could've gone shorter. Anyhoo...

Before:

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

After:

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

Oh yeah...A-yi & I also jumped on the bandwagon...with 12 inches & 10 inches respectively (my stylist didn't want to go shorter):

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

Pardon the fact that I look a wee bit sleepy or boracha (en espanol...look it up). I promise it's just a bad photo.

The Lee Ladies donated 36 inches of hair.

Also...some snow fun:

This little cutie stayed inside and tried on her V-day gift from the kids (although a certain overprotective uncle REALLY did not approve...at least it was a one piece!!):

Kids

2010-02-04T08:54:00.001-08:00

This is the same post from my blog...laziness, I tell you...puuuuuure laziness.

My kids are a trip. They are silly and cool and I want to be like them when I grow up.

I was getting Jaron (my 4YO son) into the car yesterday and he was talking about how he was going to keep his babies safe and take really good care of them. I didn't want to ask him who was going to have his babies and instead phrased it as such "Where will you babies come from?"

His reply.

Your uterus.

Oh my little Oed(ipus)...you are so darn cute.

Later that night, Kaia (my 6YO daughter) was reading a book to me before she went to bed. It was about a bunny who wasn't happy with her burrow and went searching for other homes. The last home she went to look at had a fox lurking around it...so it scared her silly all the way back to her home.

To which Kaia replies...That's what she gets for not appreciating what she has!

Oy...these kids...man I love them.

What's that white stuff?

2010-02-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well, it was SNOW!

It was definitely, by far, the largest amount of the white stuff we have seen for this area. Mind you...it was a decent amount but nothing that would've kept DC-area kids out of school for two days! How many days did I go to bed wishing for a blanket of white stuff and the magic words "Montgomery County schools...closed"...shoot, even a friggin' delay here and there. Still...it was nice to have my baby girl at home those two days...even though Ba-ba was standing duty and we didn't see him for those days. This area is just poorly equipped to handle such weather...because, well, since we've lived here...it's barely ever snowed. If it has...nothing terrible and nothing so often that the cities would need better snow equipment.

It was also the reason why we had to postponeBrother/Uncle J's Birthday Fun Weekend in DC...booooooooooooooooooo.

And now, it's gone. ;o) Thanks to the rain...most of the icy mess is gone and Kaia went back to school.

But...we did have a nice weekend indoors enjoying the white stuff from the comfort of the heat. The kids, Jax, & Sean went out for a bit on Saturday and Jax got to enjoy it often all weekend. Remi & Jaron both found it too cold for their liking...the latter probably would've like it more had his mom bought him gloves that are actually made for that kind of weather. OOPS! SORRY JARON (and Kaia)!!!!

Anyhoo...the fam having a bit of fun (sorry, there was a lot of wind and it was cut short since I was due to some moron filming without gloves and a coat):

Mohawka

2010-01-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hi Mohawka,

We love the nickname that Dey-dey gave you. She's such a silly big sister/cousin, isn't she? We'll see you very soon to celebrated your dad's 30th birthday. Until then, take care of your parents and grandmother! Can't wait to play with you...most likely in the snow!

Love,
Dey-dey, Guo-guo, Yi-jeung, & I-ma

P.S.
Do you like this pic of you inspecting Yi-jeung's haircut? Is it SAT? I hope it passed your inspection.

P.P.S.

Baby Girl...we're so sorry we didn't come up. This snow storm's got us worried that our drive home isn't going to be a safe one. Save up your energy for next weekend though...we're gonna party until our hair stands on end....wait a minute...

LOVE YOU!

One year ago...

2010-01-25T13:17:00.001-08:00

A year ago today we were apparently in DC at my mom's. Notice the adult supervision of our children. My brother J is asleep with Pablo the Monkey (courtesy of Jaron) and Sean is also asleep with Cupcake the dog (courtesy of Kaia). At least I know the guys were well-taken care of...by my kids. ;o)

Thank goodness my children aren't pyromaniacs or have many destructive tendencies.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T22:24:00.001-08:00

In keeping up with my yearly tradition since our first move from here in 2006 and consequent moves that led us back here (incl. the one that brought us back to the area exactly one year ago)...I doubt I'll be sending out holiday cards. Why break tradition? Hahaha. JK...next year....next year.

The one tradition I have kept up with is taking our holiday photos. The one holiday photo tradition Sean has kept up with...fake smiles....or rather, extremely pained-frustrated-wanting-to-skin-our dogs-and-sell-our-kids-and-find-a-wife-who-is-not-a-perfectionist-and-takes-quicker-photos smiles. Mainly because while I'm tinkering with trying to get the photos right...he's handling the kids and the dogs...except for the dog & the kid who are clingy to mama....except the clingy kid is much better (he's with Dad this year). This is a prime example...

Still...Sean is the one who broke the tradition this year and passed it to me. So, here I am in all my plasticky smile glory while my beautiful family poses...

We're off to spend a glorious break in DC...time to enjoy some great food and loved ones!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! May your travels be safe and your celebrations special and joyful!

Love,

Kaia, Jaron, Remi, Jax, Sean, & Tan

Kaia...to the rescue!!!

2009-12-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

I think my kids are pretty good kids. They can get ridiculously crazy and hyper...especially when they see family...so that's outta love & well, craziness. They're kinda outspoken...like their dad. ;o) They can have those really annoying sibling tiffs that can drive us crazy. But, most of the time...they're pretty good kids...with pretty good hearts.

Yesterday, I found out that Kaia stood up to her class who was laughing at her classmate who had accidentally peed in her pants. She let them know that it was "just an accident". As outspoken as I am and how much I like to stand up for the wronged...I don't think I would've had the guts to do that when I was her age.

We also found out that her teacher's nearly week-long absence was because she had lost her mother. The loss of a parent is something we're all to familiar with and even though the kids have not yet dealt with a tremendous loss personally...they're pretty empathetic to the loss of a loved one through their grandfather they never had the chance to meet.

Kaia did a little something for her teacher. I hope my children never lose their good hearts...

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

The Fam

2009-11-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

Family. No matter what life gives you...family is always the constant. Family...not just relatives, but family. Being related does not always mean you are family...because so many of our friends are our family. Family...ones that love & support us unconditionally.

This core group that Sean refers to as "The Fam" is a constant reminder of just how blessed our lives are. We cannot even begin to imagine our lives without these individuals...our group isn't whole when we are missing one. Our lives are more enriched, loved, and happier because of The Fam. For that, we thank you.

On the train in Strasburg, PA...part of Kim's 30th birthday celebration weekend.

In Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD after piercing Talia's ears.

Blast from the past...

2009-11-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a li'l somethin'-somethin' for my sister's upcoming 30th...and came across these old (but not so old) pics from a couple of years ago.

Notice my poor hardworking hubby...but more importantly, notice how hard I'm working to set up the perfect family photo.

Poor Sean...the things he has to put up with!!

PAYLESS 50% Off Entire Purchase Discount!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-29T19:01:00.001-07:00

Check it out!!

Lazy.

2009-10-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Kaia's injured...she's doing well, but she's sporting a hot pink cast to protect her broken tibia. Read more about it here.

What would you do?

2009-10-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

We look forward to the days when Sean stands duty...not because we can't wait to get rid of him for 36 hours, but because that's when Mommy reads TONS of stories for bedtime. It's actually our reverse psychology to get the kids excited about Daddy not coming home instead of upset. Military fam survival 101.

Anyhoo...fresh from our library outing last night before bed and the 60 books we literally checked out (oops...sorry Princess Anne Library...we'll be back next week)...one of the books I read was "Alexander's Pretending Day" by Bunny Crumpacker. Basically, the premise of the story is the little boy Alexander asking his mom how she would react in certain situations if he were different things. One of the things Alexander pretended to be was a lion. So, after Alexander asked his mom "What would you do?" I asked the same question to each child. It was Jaron's turn to answer first. His answer? "I would kill him." Yes, my darling, sweet, cuddly baby mama's boy has a killer instinct to protect himself and his family...or at least himself. Kaia's answer (which would've been mine too) was to RUN....FAST.

However, I wanted to steer him away from the generic killing statement but asked him how he was going to do that...have him really think out his answer. "With a spear." Well, shoot, you have me there...so much for steering the conversation towards a different solution. But...Mama's got a trick up her sleeve..."What if you didn't have a spear? What would you do?" Please oh please let's have a different answer (especially since when Alexander was going to be a mouse, Kaia's first answer was to stomp on him...collllllllllllld-blooded assasins, I tell you!).

My sweet, sweet, darling, cuddly baby mama's boy's answer?

"I would go to the spear shop and buy a spear...buy a LOT of spears and kill the lion with the spears."

*sigh*

Hopefully there isn't a blue light special at the spear shop or that lion is done for.

Happy Birthday, Kai-B!

2009-09-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!! You have given us so much to be proud of and thankful for...and for that, we say thank you to you. From choosing that your guests donate to two charities of your choice instead of bringing gifts to taking the news of your birthday party being postponed due to illness to being more than okay that your homemade birthday cake will be on your 6th year & 1 day birthday.

You are amazing.

Thank you for choosing us.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea. May all your birthday wishes and dreams come true. May each year bring you more and more happiness.

We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

2009-09-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Bear/Ba-ba!!
35 never looked so good!
Thank you for always being Mr. Fabulous!
We love you!!!

AHHH YES...

2009-09-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

10.5 years...they've just FLOWN by! It's always a good laugh to go back and reminisce about the first time we kissed...in the midstore parking lot...in front of everybody and making it a little AWKWARD...and then my now infamous question that just won you over instantly. I know your heart just melted right then and there. It never gets old, does it? Hehehe. I was such a smooth operator!!! And back then I had my hair all long and slicked back since I was a Firstie and I did what I wanted! Anyway, it's been a blast so far and I couldn't have been more blessed to spend that time with someone who makes me a better me! I love my Bebeh!

10.5 Years...

2009-09-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

Really...10.5 years? Here's to multiplying that number...

I Love you, Bear!!!

Feliz Cumpleanos

2009-08-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 99th BIRTHDAY, GUNG-GUNG!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving

2009-08-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

My daughter has a very giving heart. In fact, the last time Po-po, Talia, & A-yi were here Kaia tried to give A-yi the Father's Day card she had made for Ba-ba...except it was that, she made it FOR SEAN. She knew how much Kim liked the card and wanted to give it to her.

We had a pretty good laugh about...although I wouldn't be laughing if Kaia tried to give away my mother's day card...I really love that card.

Still...the innocence of children can warm your heart, make you giggle, or do both.

I'm glad my kids' innocence does both.

Picnicking on the Deck

2009-07-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Since we're back in our first home and have this amazing view, you'd think we'd be out there all the time. Except, we're not. One word: bugs. Well, two, bugs and SUN. We're east/west facing so we get some crazy sun. Sean's more of the bug-a-phobe (entomophobia for those needing the exact terminology). Maybe he's not so much of a bug-a-phobe, but more of a bug-hater....like he really, really, really does not like bugs.

Anyhoo, I digress...weather was good, deck is freshly painted, and both kids are home...so with grilled cheeses, a fresh juice concoction (spinach, blueberries, red grapes w/seeds, strawberries, ground flax, & water...all whipped up in the Vita-mix), and our picnic blanket (we still need new deck furniture)...we headed outdoors...along with Jax.

It was really nice. The kids loved it and watched the butterflies flying around our bushes. Sean missed out...on all the flies, that is! HAHAHAHA. The kids are so used to disciplining the dogs they were yelling "NO!" to the flies instead of swatting them away!!

The only sad thing is, I realize how fast the kids are growing and that both of them will be in school this September (well Jaron possibly only part-time...we'll see). I feel like I've just missed out on so much even though I've been with them almost everyday of their lives (save a total of 5 days for Kaia and 2 days for Jaron).

Really...where did time go and when did my babies grow up?

Order Up!

2009-05-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

As I was giving the kids a light breakfast before having lunch in two hours...they already had their toast and I was giving them their fruit salad, Jaron looks at the fruit and says:

"I didn't order that!"

Pu-hahahahahaha.

Yes, welcome to Tanya's Cafe.

Ta-daaaaaaaaaaaa...Talia!

2009-05-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

So much for posting about Jaron's birthday...shoot, even Kaia's birthday LAST YEAR. I'll try to get that up sometime. We're so far behind.

But...in bigger news...

OUR BABY WAS FINALLY BORN!

Talia Mei Shih made her debut almost two weeks ago!! We barely made it up there for said debut!! Thankfully, after lots of scrambling and anxiety...we got there! You can read the short of it here.

Anyhoooooo...Talia Mei Shih: 5lbs, 11oz. and 19 inches long....and absolutely gorgeous and SUCH A GOOD BABY!!! We are so missing ourselves some Talia right now and can't wait for the weekend to come so we can see Our Baby again. I've been sick since her birth (kept myself away from her homecoming) and Jaron's sick too. We'll be all good for this weekend where I intend on doing some night duty and get some bonding time in with Our Baby. Maybe if Mom takes care of the kids, Sean can join me...so he can be on poop duty...HAHAHAHAHA. ;o) The doting uncle did volunteer to do diaper duty whenever we see her anyway! What a awesome uncle!!!

Kim & J are, as expected, fantastic parents. Kim was amazing during the birthing process. She was awesome! J was a excellent coach. Mom provided much entertainment...particularly taking hits on the oxygen mask...funny lady!

The kids are dying to see their little cousin/sister. Thank you, Talia...you have now made being away from DC even HARDER!!! It's been easier for me to be away from home, but increasingly harder for the kiddies. Now, they have Talia here and something's screaming at me that leaving DC on our weekend trips are going to be H-A-R-D!

Without further ado...Talia Mei Shih:

Sweet

2009-04-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Sean's standing duty tonight and the kids have been AWESOME! We've been dealing with a bit of sibling rivalry...so much that we think: "Yeah, two's good." Although my ovaries are definitely hurtin' for a third, we'll see with our upcoming moves and life changes if a 3rd is in our cards or not. Right now, we're enjoying our two...even with their little tiffs.

Still, I live for moments like these:

It's Been a While...

2009-04-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

...without further ado...our pre-bedtime monkeys and their antics:

Some updates & tidbits:

*Both kids went to the dentist over here and were SOOOOOOOOO good!!! Both were nervous. Jaron went first with me and Kaia the next week. Jaron was really nervous, but the staff was AWESOME and he wanted to go to the dentist everyday! He also calmed Kaia down a bit...who. being older, calms down a lot easier since she listens to our explanations. She was sooooo good and the staff loved having them there. Kaia does have some "sugarbugs" that she'll get "brushed" out starting next week...and she's excited about it! She knows her tooth is going to go to sleep and that she might hear it snoring. Cutie.

*As we were getting ready for Jaron's birthday party up at Mom's. Jaron says good morning to Talia (still in A-yi's uterus) and then tells us he sees Talia's mouth...it's Kim's BELLY BUTTON!! But the funnier part about that...he said that SHE'S WHISTLING!!!! Funny Boy.

*Our Baby Shih/Cousin Watch 2009...Talia's still not out, but we're shooting for Mother's day weekend...;o) I'm going to make sure she runs some laps or whatever while we're up there so we can be there for our baby's birth. Regardless, we WILL be up there for her birth...period.

*I'll post some photos of the party...we're still recovering from it. HOWEVER...we have the BEST FAMILY...hands down!!!! Party preps were amazing and the family who came to celebrate with us...AWESOME!!! We're so blessed!!!

LIAR!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Po-po & kiddies about to eat homemade coconut birthday cake.

So, I lied. Well, not really...but I did...unintentionally since I abhor lying (as well as liars). Is that a strong word? I guess everyone lies, but I think everyone who knows me...really knows me, knows I'm very honest...sometimes TOO HONEST...;o)

Anyhoo...what was my lie? That I didn't take pics from our last weekend in DC (in reference to my previous post). I did. I was so sick that I didn't even remember until I pulled out my camera and lo & behold...PHOTOS!!!! Shoot...I even forgot that we went to DC to walk around before gorging ourselves at Texas de Brazil.

Kim was SOOOOOOOOOOO sick (this cold was really, really brutal and only the Lee Sisters got it). Poor thing missed an entire week of work and is still not 100%. I'm still not 100%...so I can't imagine how long it'll take for her to get over this completely!! She was still trying to be superwoman during this time...and not resting enough!!! My sister is probably my favorite person to nag....because she's so darn hard-headed. ;o) Good thing that gene skipped over me...tee hee hee. LOVE YOU, SISTEE!

Anyhoooo...we're heading up to DC this weekend to celebrate J-Ron's birthday early. His actual birthday is a wee bit close to Kim's due date/Talia's birth date. So, no biggie...two celebrations means more cake! ;o)

Kiddies, Talia (in utero), & A-yi...pre-plague.

Kiddies & their real parents & sibling-to-be...Uncle J, A-yi, & Talia.

Kim & J let us borrow their kids...how generous. ;o)

Sean might have made a "big" joke...I can't remember...but I'm sure Talia is giving her cute uncle a big kick right now for saying whatever he did!

Plague

2009-03-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

The plague that is Tanya has managed to infect her poor, poor PREGNANT sister!!! What a good big sister I am! SORRY SISTEE!!!!!!!!!!!! This cold is a whopper too...definitely the sickest I've been this year.

Yeah, I can't even remember how many times I've been ill since the beginning of January. Definitely more than 6 times now. I cannot wait for the weather to be warmer and school to be out!!! ;o) Hil reminded me that I've been sick more than I've been healthy. Great.

We spent the weekend up in DC celebrating family birthdays. Po-po turned 59 and we got to eat (even though I didn't have much of an appetite...you know I'm sick if I don't have an appetite) at Texas de Brazil...a carnivore lovers paradise...SOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY!!!! I also made a yummy coconut cake for my coconut-loving nutty mom!

We also celebrated the 1st birthday of our nephew Aidan!! He's more of a tank than Jaron was and is so super yummy! He's such a little charmer and just so adorable!! We got him a bomber jacket from the base and Sean attached patches of jets & subs on it that will hopefully remind him of us! Papa & Mama Yuan made some maaaaaaaaaad good food...as usual!! Our cutie niece Lina was also there and is equally as delicious as her first cousin! It's so nice to live closer to home and be able to spend time with family! Sean keeps saying that it's nice to drive 3.5-4 hours rather than the 12 hours from FL...not that he drove it too often. Anyway...good to see our family and celebrate our nephew's milestone! Hopefully, I did not infect anyone there!!

No photos this time...too sick! Wah, wah, wah.

The biggest shout-out this weekend...my hubby. He did EVERYTHING this weekend so all I had to do was take care of myself (which I normally complain he should do, but I was so sick that I wanted no one around to catch my plague). This man did all the packing up (the car, that is), took care of the kids...canine & human, drove, ev-er-y-thing!!!! He was so awesome. PLUS...Kaia was still getting better so she was still having crazy nightmares...esp. our first night in DC...where Sean slept with the kids all weekend and I was in my little cave. Poor guy. Really...he busted his sweet little tookus off this weekend and never complained or showed he was even bothered by it.

My hubby...I'm really lucky.

Fun times...

2009-03-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Kaia is currently home with a stomach virus...albeit not a horrible one like the one that knocked out me & the kids and almost the entire wardroom of the USS Tennessee. Poor Sean got less than 3.5 hours of sleep after coming home from taking Kais to the ER past 12:30am.

Kaia's good now. Sean's sleepy. Go figure.

This past weekend was great. Two birthday parties and lots of rain. We had a lot of fun though. Kaia got a taste of gymnastics at her friend Jack's birthday party on Saturday. Before we ran to Jack's birthday, I made quick healthy pseudo-Cuban sandwiches...Kaia's favorite samich. Then on Sunday, we joined our long-time friends the Tabingas to celebrate dear Colin's 5th birthday! We had so much fun!

We're still backlogged on updates. Still have to post Kim's baby shower (which the kids & Sean didn't get to make since Kaia was crazy sick during the party also)...but if I haven't even posted Kaia's birthday celebration in Disney...we'll see if I get to posting about the shower! ;o)

Even though we miss FL...

2009-02-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

...it's nice to be back in VA Beach. How can you complain when you have an awesome backyard full of wildlife and calming water? Now, I can't say much about the seagull poop all over my roof...argh. When we left for SOAC in 2006, we did not have so many seagulls...now they're plentiful and we're not diggin' 'em. Plus, the kids want to feed the ducks & geese, but not the gulls since they steal everything!!! Did I mention the poop???? UGHHHH!!!

So, do you see the tree across the lake in the center of the photo...well, this is what I was taking photos of:

and a little closer (I'm limited in my zoom with my little point-and-shoot)...

Recognize it, my friends? Yup...a certified national bird...the Bald Eagle! Unless there are some orinthologists that recognize this as some other bird, we'll just call it a Bald Eagle and call it a day. We really do love this little lake and all the wildlife views it affords us. Plus, we see these guys fly in all the time:

Really, I'll take birds and all their poop any day over scorpions (in the house) and snakes (around my house)!! I do miss these lil' buggers though (sorry for the poor image quality):

This lil' guy was hanging out on a sprinkler head while I was grilling on the lanai:

Yes, I do miss FL, but change is nice.

So Much for Being Land-Locked...

2009-02-24T06:24:00.000-08:00

So when the sub goes into dry dock, one can still get pulled to go out to sea. Ahhhhhh, the sub life. Still, with this boomer tour we can't complain...it beats fast attack life any day, hands down.

Earlier this month there was a distinct possibility that Sean was supposed to fill in for another WEPS that quit in our old homeport. The fun part of that was that he was going to be gone for 1.5 months...again, that's not too bad but considering he's in the shipyards and the smartest and more practical and most economical decision would've been to pull from the other available WEPS in the area...which they eventually did. Now, he's on this other little underway. It sucks because he'll miss our sister's (that sounds incestuous...so, my sister, his sister-in-law) baby shower...or moreover, I'll miss having him around this week while I am a crazy woman getting ready for a shower in a different state. Still, our BFFs Shirl & Hil (and our wonderful Mom) have a lot covered too up there.

Anyway, we miss having Mr. Muscles around...even though he hasn't been gone for more than a few hours yet. The kids always handle these underways with the easiest of ease. I love it. I used to be disconcerted that they didn't do the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, DADDY, DON'T GOOOOOOO!" and whole crying bit...but easily adapting to new situations is preferable any day!!! Shoot, I still remember the first time Sean went out on his PWEPS tour and I was a hot mess and Kaia comforted me...at the ripe old age of 3!!!! I guess it hadn't helped that we had some psycho come into our house (who Mr. Muscles punched out) and we were living waaaaaaaaay far from The Fam AND had a new puppy (Jax...thanks to the psycho, we felt the need for a protection dog) AND two toddlers AND I had Sean home for 3 years, so I wasn't used to him going out to sea anymore. Now, it's back to military spouse mentality and my kids are tough too...we'll see you soon, Beb/Ba-ba, but not soon enough!!!

STILL...it's a mini-underway and I can't complain. Becca's in the middle of a move with a toddler and her hubby is on deployment (read: fast attack deployments are the real thing...6 months out and not counting the various underways before they leave and throughout the year...these guys are MAYBE home for a total of 3 months out of the year...spread out throughout the year)...we're talking single married spouses for an entire fast attack tour), Kelly has been home with the 3 kids while her hubby has been in a different state up the coast, and Ellyn had gone through a deployment and then her hubs got sent on a 1 year IA tour in Iraq, and Liza's been holding it down with her 3 cuties while her hubby does a geo-bachelor tour.

Yeah, we miss Mr. Muscles, but we have no complaints.

McDonald's

2009-02-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

So, our kids are funny. Given Mommy's training and background, we've tried to instill a big sense of multiculturalism in them...through diverse ideas, people, customs, and FOOD. Yeah, yeah, yeah...so I'm not big on the whole "Let's do a food festival to showcase our culture"-thing, but with stomachs and tastes like ours...our kids NEED to have diverse food tastes.

Now, I miss me some South...esp. the Southern Fried Chicken...*droooool*. But, having to drive an hour-plus to get some Indian, Chinese, Korean, etc. food was re-dunkulous. It's great being back up here with a newly-opened International Supermarket (one of those ginormous Korean-owned supermarkets) right down the street and more diversity in cuisine all within a 30-minute or less drive...we're so happy. STILL...food in the Hampton Roads area (Norfolk, VA Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, etc.) is NOT known for fabulous food. In fact...if you ever see something that's been voted "Best of the Beach/Norfolk"...you might wonder who the voters are and if their tongues are working correctly. Yes, I am a food snob...but if it's voted best...it at least better be GOOD...not "ok".

Anyhoo...I digress...we've posed the option of pizza or some other kind of fast food option to our kids. Often, since we're uber close to our fave Vietnamese location, we throw in Pho as an option as well. For those who don't know, pho is the wonderfully delicious Vietnamese beef noodle soup (which also is available in chicken) that you can top with some fresh herbs & other condiments and is soooooooo addictive!! Funny thing is, no matter what option is stacked against pho...pho always wins!!

Viral

2009-02-04T09:18:00.001-08:00

We happen to be currently blessed with one of the best viruses known to mankind...a STOMACH VIRUS!! Hahahahaha...ok, obviously sarcasm, but this bad boy has managed to take out our whole family AND, not to mention, almost the entire wardroom (the officers) on Sean's boat!!! Even the CO (commanding officer...aka #1) had to go home early. It's that bad.

This bad boy has hit hard and fast. We took Kaia to school yesterday. I felt a little weird all morning. Then I get a call from Kaia's school saying she threw up twice and at least made it 1/2-way through her 100th Day (of school). As we're leaving to get her, I vomit twice. We come home, Kaia's in real bad shape. Jaron's fine and messing around before I put him to bed. Then the kids are sleeping and I'm downstairs. Kaia joins me later, followed by Jaron a while after that. Then Jaron pukes (he's the type of kid that gives no forewarning that he's about to blow...he just does it).

Sean got home and took care of us. He was starting to feel it a little but not too bad. Today he's achy, has the chills, and his stomach hurts, but hasn't come home yet...which he totally should since this thing comes so fast AND he has to stand duty tomorrow. Ughhhhhh.

Anyhoo...the kids are doing much better today. I am don't have the chills anymore nor am I'm throwing up...but still feeling it a little. I'm just happy the kids are feeling so much better! I hated seeing them so miserable yesterday.

Ahhhhhhhh...how's this post for TMI? ;o)

Anonymous

2009-02-01T07:49:00.001-08:00

Alrighty, Lurkers....everyone can now publish comments!

Red Nail Polish & "Look, Ma, No Hands!"

2009-01-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

So, the other night while we were at a restaurant, our little Cassanova took notice of our server's red nail polish. He told us, after she left, that he liked her nails and quickly followed that by "She can be my girlfriend". The Asian American mini-version of Hugh Hefner already has 3 girlfriends: Mommy, A-yi, & Kaia (and two others in FL).

To balance a funny story...the other day, my angel got a wee bit angry at his sister. He decided to defy house-rules and use force instead of words. While getting disciplined for hitting Kaia with a toy, he pointed out that he didn't use his hands to hit her...he used a toy. Oh...ok, now that's fine. ;o) Turkey.

Note to parents of kids we play with...your kids are still safe with my son! ;o) He seems to limit his anger outbursts to his sister...and then does a 180 with other kids...almost passive at times! Yikes!

Secret Agents

2009-01-30T13:31:00.001-08:00

So, while reading about the Backyardigans being secret agents, Jaron mentioned that secret agents are like "secret agent pears". Cutie boy...I didn't have the heart to correct him and tell him that they're Asian Pears and not "Agent Pears". ;o)

Stranger Danger?

2009-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently not. I was finishing up downstairs while Jaron ran ahead upstairs to get ready for his afternoon nap. When I headed up to start the process, I snuck up the stairs quietly with the intent to surprise him...because I'm a nice mom like that. Tee hee hee. Anyhoo...I could barely hear him and headed into his room, where, beyond the boxes, I heard *tap, tap, tap* and a tiny voice yell "You're doing a great job!" Yup...my son was knocking on his window, trying to get the roofers' attention next door, and praising their efforts. It was so cute but I also had to let him know that they're strangers and remind him that he's not supposed to be just chatting it up with anyone...like his mom. HAHAHAHAHA.

Poor baby is still getting over his cold. Hopefully, he'll be good to go by the time we get up to DC this weekend!! His appetite disappeared momentarily for a day...but returned. Kaia's doing better too...it never really progressed beyond a stuffy nose and mild coughing.

Here's the cute little bugger sleeping in my bed:

Inaugural Fun

2009-01-20T06:48:00.000-08:00

Well, it's officially begun! Kaia brought home some "love" from her class last week!!! This weekend was spent with two wonderfully sick kids!! Kaia actually just got a stuffy nose while Jaron got a stuffy/drippy nose and crazy coughing! Last night he was burning up with a crazy fever! Ahhhhhhhh...the joys of child socialization...always sharing some kind of love. ;o) Sean and I are drinking tea like a mother trying to avoid getting this bug.

From I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up...

Kaia's home today to watch the inauguration since they wouldn't be watching it at school....booooooooo. I guess it's good that they have a "no t.v." policy at school...but I wanted my daughter to witness history in the making. It'll definitely be something she'll always remember (shoot, this girl remembers EVERYTHING anyway!)....plus, she's all about Obama! ;o)

From I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up...

We kicked off our inauguration festivities by watching the Disney Kids' Inaguration where the entire audience was comprised of military personnel and families. How awesome was that to watch. The celebrities and performers kept calling all the military personnel AND families the "real American heroes"...so it was nice to explain to the kids that they should get kudos too since they have to sacrifice as well. I also loved when Michelle Obama told the kids that they need to give back to the country too. It was great having someone else reiterate the importance of serving your community!

Alrighty...time to go explain all the stuff they're about to see on t.v. Man, I so wish we were up there right now!!!! I can feel the electricity in the air through the screen at least...*sigh*

CONGRATULATIONS

2009-01-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

Sooooooooooo, I haven't posted about something BIG in my life...in early September I found out that I am expecting my 3rd child...except she's gestating in my sister. ;o) Yes, yes, yes...Kaia and Jaron will have they're very own little sister (errrrr...cousin) courtesy of my sister and brother. Wow...are you confused? Well, let's clear up the incestuous-sounding relationship first...I call J, my brother-in-law, my brother because he's not an in-law, he's family. So, my sister and brother found out at the end of summer '08 that they will be parents!!!! Little Talia's expected due date is early-mid May!!!! It'll be a nice belated birthday present for Jaron. Tee hee hee. So, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Pregnancy and another baby without the pain and added weight....har har har. I would say something typically Tanya, but this is our family blog. Hahahahaha. Anyhoo...we here in the Lee-Espiritu household refer to Talia (chosen in honor of K&J's big sisters me & Liane) as "Our Baby"...but now (since we have found out her sex) also as Mei-Mei (middle name Mei in honor of her grandmothers Maybelle & Ming), Kaila (Jaron has a fascination with this name), and Moy-moy (little sister in Toishan). Sean keeps calling her "Our Baby" and I call her a multitude of names besides "All Mine"....hehehehe.

Talia will be joining another beautiful little girl born in 2009...in fact on my birthday!!! Ella Joonhee was born to Ellyn & Rey!!! Ellyn has taken some gorgeous photos (Ellyn is a really gifted photographer, but journalist by trade) of her beautiful daughter! Congrats Ellyn & Rey!!! Ellyn actually witnessed the beginning of the Lee-Espiritu relationship...incl. when a certain brave Espiritu Mid decided to plant one on the Lee Terp in the Mid Store parking lot in front of her/their friends! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Congratulations to my two little sisters!!!!!

VA Beezy

2009-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

We are back in the land where military personnel & their families outnumber locals!! Yes, yes, yes...Hampton Roads...home to 7+ military installations, including the world's largest Naval base! We are back in our old house, which is also the first home we bought back at the end of Sean's JO tour. We've had renters in here since we moved up to CT and then to FL. Needless to say, there are lots of repairs we're working on now in addition to unpacking. We were really lucky to have The Fam come down and help unpack our kitchen (a nice not-so-little birthday gift for me!!). It was crazy trying to fit three huge pantries into a pantry that is less than half the size of our coat closet. Speaking of which...we did not have a coat closet in FL...because, there isn't much need for coats! HAHAHAHA. Anyhooo....going from a huge kitchen to a big kitchen has been a challenge and we still have misc. stuff hanging out everywhere. I'm hoping that we'll be unpacked by the time we have to pack up and move again. HAHAHAHAHA.

Above is the view from our backyard. We have seriously missed these gorgeous sunsets that our backyard affords us! The lake is great too...seeing the cormorants dive and catch fish and the mean seagulls try to steal 'em away, the ducks and the geese squawking loudly, and the rumble of jet noise. Wait a minute...what does that have to do with the lake?? Anyhoo...yes, the jets from nearby NAS Oceana rumble loudly overhead (at times) and I LOVE IT. Seriously, how often do people have military jets flying overhead??

Kaia also had her first official week of kindergarten last week! I can't believe my/our baby girl is so grown up already! She adjusted PERFECTLY and had a blast! Jaron is missing his sister, but has his mommy all to himself! ;o)

Alrighty...off to open some boxes...or not. Tee hee hee.

Sa-sa-sa-SEE YA!!!

2008-12-18T05:32:00.000-08:00

We're packing up and heading out...soon. Well, we do have packers here today and supposedly they can pack us out in one day. I'll believe it when I see it 'cause WE'VE GOT LOTS O' STUFF...or junk. Tomorrow, they'll load our junk, errr, stuff on the truck and we'll hang out during the weekend...or clean 2 years worth of dirt and also head out to Daytona USA (my treat for handling this move by myself...hehehe....that and Jaron is a total Cars boy (and Kaia got interested in pro-stock car racing after we read about it...plus, she's my other little boy. She likes Cars too.)

Anyhoo...we flew Mom in and she's been a total help...AS USUAL!!! Sean came in briefly this weekend to tie up a few loose ends before our big move. We didn't get much accomplished but he did take care of things I couldn't handle...especially since I managed to pull my shoulder-back-neck.

One thing we did do, is take our annual photo for our holiday cards. We have managed to do this every year...even though Sean hasn't been here for the winter holiday season since 2005. Unfortunately, the last time we sent out holiday cards was probably also in 2005. HAHAHAHAHA. Every year, Sean co-manages the dogs & kids while I set up the camera/shot and manage Remi and Jaron. ;o) Ever since our 3rd holiday photo in 2004, Sean has managed a pretty pained look...mainly from impatience and frustration...poor Hubs. Hopefully next year, someone else can take our photo and Sean'll go back to his fake smile! Tee hee hee. You can check out Take #1 on my other blog here. We took it at our clubhouse pool...one of the most beautiful and relaxing settings we've had (although our lake in VA was really peaceful too). Actually, we both have pretty pained looks/fake smiles here...but hey, with a setting like that, there is no complaining!!

Rock Stars

2008-12-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

Apparently Kaia isn't the only Rock Star in the fam...we caught Jaron w/the Jonas Brothers and taped the very end of his performance:

And yes, only true Rock Stars rock out in their diapers/underwear! ;o)

Post-Underway Blues?

2008-12-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well...I was feeling it a little today. But, I know it's definitely because of our upcoming move...whenever that may be. But, watching these two munchkins helps a bunch...this was last night while getting ready for bed...

Seriously...my kids are funny.

And so starts December...

2008-12-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

I had way better shots, but didn't want to post those for fear of the whole security thing of our guys and stuff.

So, we said goodbye to Sean this morning. Found out late last night that we had to take him to the base (as we've always done anyway) reeeeeeeeeeallllly early in the morning. It was days like today that I really wish we had lived closer so Sean could get some more rest in. The kids and I came back home and snoozed for a bit and I had planned on taking us to the Island (Amelia Island) to the state park (Ft. Clinch) to say our goodbyes again. We got to hang out with the uber-cool Ms. Lynsey Hickman and watched the boat go by from atop the fort. Like I mentioned before, I got some really good shots from that fort of the sub, but don't want to post them and have NCIS breathing down my back. ;o) It was also fun having random people pass us by and ask if the sub came or is coming and I was like "WTF?" The spouses are sworn to this Don't Tell Don't Tell policy and yet the three times I've gone, other civilians have known that a sub was coming through. So much for security and confidentiality of our sub's movements. Anyway, I digress...living in FL has made me a cold-weather wimp. It was 50 degrees and a wee bit chilly. I guess it's difficult after it was upper 60s-70 degree weather just a few days ago.

But, during our snooze, Sean called to let us know that AGAIN our move dates needed to be rescheduled...the day AFTER we had just confirmed dates with the moving company. Of course, I can't find out anything else about our schedule until I hear from Sean next...I love being in limbo. Fun stuff. But in actuality, there isn't too much stress here, but just hoping that we'll make it home with The Fam to celebrate (and all of our other various fams/friend-fams to visit). Just stressing to get our place rented out. We haven't locked in a property manager (although we did interviews this past weekend) so I wanted to give MilitaryByOwner.com a chance and see how that works out. I still need to clean some more and upload more photos.

Anyhoo...our weekend was crazy busy and stressful, but we managed to head down to downtown JAX and catch the Light Parade & Fireworks. It was extra great since we got to hit my favorite downtown Jax soft taco goodness Burrito Gallery. The Light Parade was actually on water...people would deck out their boats in all sorts of decorations. There were some mad cool decorations and others that were like "ooooookaaaaaaay". Case in point of a mad cool one was the Santa Riding the Alligator down the St. John's River.

I also got to play around with my new cool toy the Gorillapod, which is a tripod for cameras that you can wrap around various things. I used it to get some clearer nightshots (man, am I reaaaaaaally wanting an SLR for some seriously crisp and no-noise photos...one day...*sigh*) by wrapping it around the railing and just snapping away (and playing w/various settings to finally settle on something I was satisfied with). At the end of the night, since we barely have photos of the 4 of us...I wrapped the Gorillapod around the stroller and this was one of the shots I got:

The fireworks were great since they were launched off of three barges and we could see all three...and were next to one of the two bridges that displayed the famous "waterfall" display of fireworks:

Anyway, what a long day it has been and I'm interested in seeing how the next few weeks pan out. I leave y'all with this photo of the kiddies as we were leaving the fort after saying goodbye to Sean:

Empathy

2008-11-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

So, I've always admired our BFF's kids the Martinos. They have to be, hands down, the most empathetic kids we have ever seen...and we know plenty of great kids. True, their role models are out of this world amazing...so it's a no-brainer that these kids would turn out the way they have. Seriously, these kids have more empathy than a lot of adults we know. I am really not putting these kids up on a pedestal...if you met them, it'd be hard to not agree with me.

Anyway, so, we keep these kids in mind when raising our kids. Sure, I want my kids to grow up to be themselves, but there are certain attributes that we want to nurture in them....empathy being one of them. Jaron is showing signs of it, but we still have to work on that. We're definitely finding gender differences in our children and parenting. That was something I DID NOT believe was going to happen. But, research does show there is a difference in raising girls & boys.

So, Kaia...oh darling Kaia. She is pretty empathetic. It's something we've been nurturing in her since birth and it's definitely a great foundation so far.

If anyone has read my personal blog, then you know my father's 60th birthday was this past Thursday. All birthdays have been difficult since he passed away, but this was especially difficult since it was his 60th birthday. I was pretty bummed and just sadder since I knew he hadn't met anyone in this house (human or canine). I was additionally bummed since I didn't have enough time to make a birthday cake for him either. This was a tradition I started last year to honor Gung-Gung's (what my kids would have called my dad) birthday. I held it together until the night after the kids went to sleep...or so I thought. Sean was with me in our bedroom consoling me when Kaia walks in to let Sean know he forgot to kiss her goodnight. She quickly realized I was crying and offered "Mom, do you want me to sleep in here until you feel better?" Then, as Sean always does in the morning before leaving for work, he kissed the kids goodbye. Kaia, before 5am, wakes up as he kisses her and tells him she wants to bake me a cake for Gung-Gung's birthday to make me feel better.

What's even cuter is that in the morning, she's telling me it's going to be a great day and they're going to be such good kids because she knows I'm sad about my dad not being here. She also told me that she & Ba-ba have a surprise for Gung-Gung's birthday to make me happy and that it's a secret. Then, as soon as her sentence ends with "a secret", she quickly follows it up with "It's a cake." HAHAHAHAHAHA...oh, she's definitely my daughter! It's really difficult for me to hold back surprises when I'm planning them for loved ones. ;o)

Anyway...that's all. I love my little Mama's Boy, but good lord does my daughter have a sweet heart.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T18:11:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to have Ba-ba home for Halloween and trick-or-treated in our area for once. Well, not really since we went to our friend's subdivision across the way. Hehehe...but we stayed up north in Fernandina instead of heading down to Jax. After a Halloween buffet at the clubhouse, we headed over to North Hampton to trick-or-treat there. Thank goodness we did since there are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more people that live in that neighborhood and lots of young families. Our neighborhood, as beautiful as it is, is way too spread out and still really new.

Anyhoo...since Sean had duty last night, I carved the kids' pumpkins. Shoot...duty or not, I would've ended up carving these bad boys anyway! hahahaha. Kaia picked a mummy and we made it a Mommy Mummy. Jaron chose some freaky satanic skeleton. They were really excited and loved watching their pumpkins come to fruition while I hacked up a lung (still pretty sick and miserable over here...waah, waah, waaaah). It was actually cool this year so instead of worrying about the kids sweating out all the liquid in their bodies, we had to make sure they were adequately dressed for cool weather (first cool Halloween since we've been down here).

On to photos...Kaia was a Barbie cheerleader (still trying to make up my mind about how I feel about having Barbie in our family) and Jaron was Lightning McQueen. He wanted to be Diego dressed as a Bat but it's slim-pickings when you Halloween shop like the Lee-Espiritus and go the night before or two nights before the big day. Hehehehe. Enough blibber-blabber....photos.

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

A Dozen

2008-10-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

So, Kaia & I were discussing the quantity a dozen and right after I thought we had it pretty cemented, I asked her "If Mama had a dozen kids, how many would I have?"

She promptly replied "A LOT". ;o)

Mind you, this is the same child that wants me to have 100 babies.

Just a quick update since the next month and a half is going to be a fun one...we'll be packing up, renting this house (HOPEFULLY), and moving from here to our old stomping grounds in the Hampton Roads, VA area.

Anyhoo....lots to do and plenty o'coffee to drink! ;o)

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

2008-09-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

We're heading off to Disney tomorrow with The Fam. Actually, J will be flying into Orlando on Friday and Sean will be meeting us in Orlando Saturday afternoon. We had a slight scare that he wouldn't be down at all since he's the big man in charge for a long period because he's the weapons DH. Boooooooo. Anyhoo...it's Kaia's 5th birthday Saturday and just wanted to make sure we were together as a family. So yeah, tomorrow we pick up Mom & Kim from the airport in Jax w/the poochies, drive to Plant City and drop them off with the trainer, and then head off to Shades of Green (the military resort @ Disney).

Meanwhile, I've been siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. I somehow managed to stay in bed almost the entire day yesterday...without Sean home. Yes, with the kids home. They were really good. We're so lucky to have good kids. The last time I've been so sick was with the flu back in February and before that it was with the flu in 2000. Wait a minute...is this the flu???? Nah, it's not...but it's pretty durn bad. Anyway...enough whining.

Gotta pack and plan for my baby gurl's 5th birthday celebration with our Besties!!

Welcome Home & Happy Birthday, Ba-ba!!

2008-09-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Ba-ba/Bear!!

So, Sean went out to sea and came back home...again and again these past few weeks. He finally got back and early AND just in time for...HIS BIRTHDAY!!!! We had gotten word that he was pulling in at 6pm...so I had a good idea of when & what to make for his birthday. His birthday gift of "cleaning the house" didn't quite make the deadline. Shoot, it didn't even get past the thought of it. Ok, so I exaggerate...I did tidy up a little bit and the kiddies did clean up their gazillion toys. So, it was a bit cleaner....but hardly noticeable save for the toys.

Anyhoo...we made a mint-Special Dark chocolate cake for his birthday. We made it from scratch since I can't bear the thought of putting the junk from boxed cake mixes into my family. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE the taste and ease of boxed cake mixes, but do try to avoid them. It's like the Breyer's commercial when you see the kids trying to pronounce the junk that's in non-all natural ice creams. We also made some favorites of his...churrasco (with my cousin Luis' chimichurri recipe), cabbage salad (my 98 year-old maternal grandfather's concoction), garlicky steamed cauliflower, & brown/white rice. You can check out my food blog for any recipes. The cabbage salad has become one of his favorites when Mom first made it for him. Not to mention that the raw cabbage is uber-healthy too (along w/the tomatoes & olive oil in it). Cauliflower is something that he JUST started liking last year when I started making it really garlicky. Sean's come a loooooooong way from when we first started dating. Veggies were really foreign to him. BUT...now he's lovin' them. Now, we just have to convert his Mini-Me (aka Jaron) into liking them. We're making big headway with the little turkey...so he's slowly starting to eat them or at least TRY them! WOOHOO!!

Anyway...the kids had a really late night and we finally got them down at 11pm...a full 3 hours after I NORMALLY get them down! Sean & I settled in for a movie ("Elizabeth the Golden Age") and finally got to bed at 2am!! We celebrated today with disappointing dim sum (go figure for NE Florida)...followed IMMEDIATELY with an Indian buffet (literally several shops down from the Chinese place). Yup...gluttons! I didn't take photos, but dinner was salad, grilled asparagus, & grilled pork loin chops with a gauva sauce. YUM!

That's all for now. It's on to planning Kaia's birthday coming up next week. We'll be in Orlando with The Fam. Woohoo!!!! We can't believe (not-so) Baby Girl is already turning 5!!!

Hopefully Sean will be contributing to the blog now that he's home!

Kaia cheesin' & Jaron continuing his piece de resistance!

Now Jaron's turn to cheese & Kaia creating her masterpiece.

A close-up of our son's artsiness.

This is a bad angle since I actually had 1/2 plate covered in veggies & I flattened out my rice portion to make it look like more. ;o)

Aftermath, Hanna, & Week 7 (finally)

2008-08-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Oops...kinda forgot to post an update about Fay. We came out A-OK! There were downed trees, debris, and lots of standing water. The water levels in the golf course lakes were really high as were the marshes and rivers. But, the electricity never went out and we were alllllllllllll good. ;o)

Sean had come in after Fay left for a hot second and then was back out to sea for a little bit. He finally came home and worked through the entire Labor Day weekend. One day he'll get to sleep in. But, now he's back out again. Hanna was looking like she wanted to come and visit us but everytime I check the forecast, she's going out further into the Atlantic. Still, the government likes to protect their multi-billion dollar assets and sent the subs out. Nothing like a huge expensive piece of metal banging into the piers!! So, we're a single-parent household preparing for a possible hurricane again. It's all good though. This'll give us some good alone time to try to clean the house for Sean's birthday (9/6). We're not exactly the cleaning-type of people...but this'll be Sean's best birthday gift ever as well as pull double-duty getting ready to get this house listed on the rental market. =D But, yeah, Hanna doesn't look too bad so far...at least it doesn't look as bad as it did for a while! So...YAY!

On to Week 7. Kaia finished her week off with American Idol. It was very cute. They sung Lean on Me (which had a stereotypical Native American theme to it...not sure what was up with that) & Since You've Been Gone. The latter was really cute and the two main singers were soooo good!!! Mom also surprised Kai-Bear and was she ever so surprised and overjoyed!! It was so cute to see/hear how happy my little munchkin was!!! So, Mom came in just in time to enjoy Kaia's very last camp performance. Kaia had so much fun and was pretty bummed to see it end. But, alas, she now has lessons up the wazoo (may I reiterate how I never thought I'd be putting them in so many classes...shoot, as well as homeschooling too....hahahahaha).

Speaking of lessons, they're loving them. Kaia's hip-hop teacher (Miss Holly from summer camp) actually wants to move her up to the 7-9 year old class. She thinks Kaia's going to make it big one day. That's fine...as long as she goes to college too. ;o)

On to some photos...

Turkey Jaron & Overjoyed Kaia with WGG (World's Greatest Grandma)

Fay

2008-08-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

We've been dealing with Fay and all her loveliness all day long. This morning wasn't too bad as was this afternoon. Tonight the wind is crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrazy and lots o' rain! Normally...ain't nuthin' but a chicken wing, but I'm worried about the poochies!! There was a tiny break where it didn't rain for a hot second...so hopefully they got some "bidness" done during that time. It's just crazy right now hearing all the rain and wind slam against the house. I had packed up just in case we needed to evacuate and still am ready in case we need to leave for any reason...biggest one being the lack of electricity. That should be fun finding a hotel with my 4 kids. ;o) Hehehehe. Like I said, I've been through worse weather, but having the 2 human kiddies & 2 canine kiddies and no braun (well, besides myself...har, har, har) makes things interesting. ;o)

Anyhoo...I'm sure everything will be all good in the morning. Till now, I'll enjoy the sounds of Fay and all the frogs screaming outside....ahhhhh, FL and all its wonderful wildlife! But seriously, I'm trying to watch the finale of "America's Best Dance Crew" and the frogs are drowning out the tv! I can't imagine how it is for los animales outside right now. It's pretty gnarly out there!

Sean's still out to sea, but I'm sure safe & sound! Mom finished up her 2 week stay (well, a little less than 2 weeks) Tuesday evening...just in time to get out of dodge down here. It was a fabulous visit and the kids (and I) were super bummed to see her leave.

I still owe y'all a recap of Kaia's last week at camp. This week, was just seeing Mom off, Kaia NOT having her first day of dance class, and both Kaia & Jaron taking their first Spanish class!

Alrighty...recap's on its way when things die down a bit! Till next time, kiddies!

Just a Tease

2008-08-08T20:59:00.003-07:00

We're heading down to Miami to celebrate our dear (great-)grandfather's birthday with Mom (who arrived safely yesterday) in the morning! So, I'll update about week 7 next week when we get back. Meanwhile, here's a teaser...a video of Kaia's finale.

Also, video messages to Ba-ba from the kids.

Kaia being her usual silly self...including feigning being scared of Jax. So silly!! Especially since this little girl has no fear when it comes to dogs!

Into the Homestretch...Week 6: The Emperor's New Hair

2008-08-03T07:03:00.001-07:00

So, we are winding down and about to enter our last week of camp. Kaia's theme last week was jazz & the performance was "The Emperor's New Hair". It was really cute. I also registered Kais for dance for the remaining months that we are here. Yup...dance. I always thought I'd get these kids into martial arts & piano...even though I KNEW that Kaia is naturally gifted for dance. SO, yeah...we're doing dance...but she really wants to do martial arts too. We'll wait on that until our next move though. Jaron is also registed for some classes too! YAY! So, we'll still stay busy (or rather, busiER) for our time remaining. Kaia will be taking ballet/tap/jazz, hip hop, musical theater, a princess class, & Spanish classes. Jaron will be taking a pirate class & Spanish classes with Kai Bear. I never thought I'd be one of those parents putting their kids into everything and their mother, but I guess this is me compensating for robbing Kaia's kindergarten year (well, at least until we move). Yeah, I'm still doubting my abilities to homeschool until we move. BUT, the ever-so-supportive BFF of ours, Jaimee Martino, has sent me a nice book to help me get past this and get ready to give Kaia a rockin' few months with Mommy Kindergarten teacher. ;o) Thank you, Jaimes...I LOVE YOU!

Anyhoo...Sarah, Kaia's buddy, was the Emperor and rocked out the role. It was a really cute skit. Kaia was one of the townspeople. I also had a momentary freakout when I turned the camera on to take a photo of the set...only to discover I had no memory card!!!! I had left it in the laptop AT HOME!! ARGH!!! But, being the one who always plans ahead, I had an extra memory card in the case. I only remembered this after resigning to the fact that I'd be missing out on recording week 6 and Sean wouldn't get to see it. Also, after the performance, the girls kept wanting to go to the art studio to see the baby deer. I had no idea what these two were smoking until we got to the studio and lo & behold...a baby deer!! One of the fathers works with a wildlife foster program. So, pretty neat!

Oh yeah, like an embarrassing mother I'm destined to be (ok, I hope not), Kaia has her first major crush. Well, I'm hoping it's actually her SECOND major crush with Kuya Austin (Martino) having been the first. But now she's older and getting all giggling and shy (yes, I said shy) when she mentions Liam. Liam had told me a few weeks ago that my "daughter is very, very beautiful". ;o) What a little charmer! He's even come to the car to help Kaia get out before too. This past week, he had given her a ring he made in class. I had pulled out a pipe cleaner with a "L" bead on it in the morning, only to find out from Alexandra (Liam's mom) that he had given her a ring the day prior...which was the pipe cleaner bead thing I had found. Ahhhh...Kaia's following the tradition of Lee girls having blond haired, blue-eyed first crushes. Kim's first crush was blond, but now she likes 'em dark...hence my brother Jason. ;o) I tend to like 'em darker, but there's something about Legolas...maybe those ears. ;o)

Alrighty...on to the good stuff.

The townspeople walking in.

Townspeople in front of the Emperor's wigs.

Sarah & Liam

Of course, No Fear Lee-Espiritu is closest to a wild animal.

Still the closest...w/other No Fear Lee-Espiritu bringing up the rear.

Savannah, Kaia, Liam, & another classmate (sorry classmate, I don't know your name!)

Week 5: RaFUNzel

2008-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

Kaia concluded week five with a performance of "Rafunzel". The theme was ballet/creative dance and folk art/jewelry & textiles. Kaia was a bee in the performance. She was having so much fun. This week was a good one in that the mean girls were acting up again, but she knew how to handle it better. I hate to have my kids go through painful situations like these, but in just 5 weeks, she knows how these situations work and how to navigate stuff like this.

Kai-Bee

Anyhoo...our week was great. Mom is coming down to visit us next week and surprising Kaia...because she's fabulous grandparent/parent like that!!! I can't believe next week is already the last week!!! Time is going by fast (mostly) and dragging (sometimes) at times. Other than that, we're good and keeping busy.

Jaron's as funny as ever. He's a big turkey and can be either really funny or really frustrating. Either way, those chubby cheeks & Mama's boyness always gets me...but I try not to let it show. ;o) He started getting sad this week when we dropped Kaia off. One day he even cried. It's nice to see him expressing his emotions and showing how much he loves Kaia. He's also singing the beginning of Chris Brown's "Forever"....hahahaha. I'll write a list of the non-kid songs that my kids like to sing.

We've also been inundated with thunderstorms either everyday or every other day...we're talking, at times, bad enough that we have downed trees. The kids (human & canine) aren't frightened of them too...so that's a blessing! Not to mention, we're saving on our water bills...cha-ching!! FL water bills are insane...we're talk either high $100s but more likely mid to upper $200s!! Yup...makes me love FL even more! ;o)

Our PSP finally is breaking down. We've been using it as our DVD player. So, it's time to join the times and buy a DVD player. Thank God they're pretty reasonable nowadays!

Now, for the good stuff. VIDEOS!!!!

Kaia's Bee Performance...sans stinger.

Rafunzel Finale

LCDR Espiritu

2008-07-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

YEA-UH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our dear Uncle Dan just informed us that someone in this family has some special news...

CONGRATULATIONS to my AMAZING PARTNER on making 0-4...Lieutenant Commander for you civilians...a PROMOTION for you non-military exposed civilians!!!

YEA-UH, Hunny!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Since my buffer half is out to sea right now, let me know if you want his sub email to send your congrats!

Way to go, Bear!!! I knew you'd make it!!!

Congratulations to our brother from another mother Alvin Martino who also screened for 0-4!!!!!!

OOPS...Congrats to Jonathan Kim, James Mahoney, Corey Poorman, & Ben Cote too...our other brothers from other mothers!!!

Goldilocks & the 3 Bullfrogs

2008-07-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's Friday and that brings us to another end of fabulous week of summer camp for the Kaister. Three more weeks to go! Kaia had fun being splatter-painting, sculpting clay, etc. She's had so much fun and it was TOTALLY worth the money to send her there! Definitely money well spent. This week also brought some tears. I think with Kaia being sick, she was just a bit bogged down. Since Wednesday, she's been crying right when I say goodbye because she said she's really going to miss me. My goodness, that poor little girl...I would NOT miss me! =) But yeah, poor baby has been upset but the only reason why is because she'll miss me. Other than that, she continued her reign as Ms. Popular. The teachers are just so amazed what a little people magnet she is. It's really nice to hear because that means we're doing a good job raising a nice person with a good heart...who happens to be so funny and bubbling over with personality. I'd like to say I'm biased but this girl really does have a huge personality. Ok...time to deflate my head.

Both mean girls from the first week were reunited this week...but w/o any problems. Charlie happened to return to sour puss, but the other girl Bella turned out to be nice. Kaia was really puzzled why Charlie was nice the other two weeks but not this week. Ahhhhhh, my darling daughter has so much to learn about the finnickiness of girls/kids. Either way, Charlie's grouchiness had no impact on Kaia...which is GREAT!

Anyhoo...the skit was really cute. Kaia was a bullfrog & a fish. We're just really proud of her (Jaron & I, that is...Daddy will be seeing these performances at a later time).

All is well here....the kids are convalescing and hopefully this weekend will bring them much needed rest. I have bought a ton o' paint & materials so they can paint their own t-shirts. I'm planning on turning Kaia's shirts that she paints into tanks & dresses...something jazzier than t-shirts. Last weekend I also started Movie Sunday/Saturday (whichever day allows it) and we watch 3 kid movies that I've ordered from Blockbuster's Total Access program. It's a nice chill day and gives us some good cuddle time too. We'll see about hitting the pool. The weather's been icky and, like I said, I'd rather take it easy so they can get better. I DID want to hit the outlets but oh well.

Ooh...Mom also told us that she's visiting us again in August!!! I thought it was going to be another extended weekend trip but Her Royal Hotness informed us that it's just shy of two weeks!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Too bad Sean's not here because he loves when The Fam (or parts of The Fam) visit since they're always so much help and fun!!!!

Anyway...photos & videos!

Kaia & her fish puppet.

Jaron trying to watch (notice his arm on my leg...he's so cute)!

Kaia & her Hip-Hoptastic teacher Holly. Holly is the one who swears Kaia is going to be famous.

Bullfrog Performance but no Hip-Hop

This one actually has hip-hop in it.

Le Grand Finale

In Love & Mommy Makes a Friend

2008-07-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

So, the other day we got to hang out at our pool with Sarah (the cute young thing that wants to adopt Kaia) and her mom Stacy. We found out that they live in the development across the street from us, so it works out nicely! It was really nice and Stacy is really cool. I found out that she is a fellow lioness when protecting Sarah too! Hehehe. It came out because we were talking about Mean Girls and such.

Anyway, Sarah also let me know that a little boy from the first week of camp had a huge crush on Kaia (unbeknownst to her). Sarah said the little boy, Avery, told her about Kaia and said "I think I'm in love." How cute is that? Hahahaha.

Anyway, new videos & photos will be up tomorrow after Kaia's performance.

The Fam & High School Musical...Sorry, this one's a LONG one!

2008-07-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhh...another week done. Last week, the camp was on vacation because of the abbreviated week. That left us with no camp and no daddy. *sigh* It's all good since the three of us were sick and getting ready for The Fam (Sean's collective title for Mom, Kim, & Jason) to come down to FL to visit. I had the attempted abduction stuff to keep my mind off of Sean's departure.

We had a great weekend with The Fam. As usual, they took FABULOUS care of us and we loved spending time with them. Even though our weekend was jammed pack, it was still relaxing. After dinner at Burrito Gallery in downtown JAX, we watched the fireworks in downtown Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. The weather was FABULOUS and, more importantly, NO BUGS (I sound like my hubby now)!!!

Kaia getting beads from a pirate (pirate history is rich in Fernandina)

Jaron having his pirate experience since he was a bit scared the first go-around.

"Sword fighting" with glow sticks.

They weren't DC fireworks, but they were nice.

We also hit up Savannah, GA and Silver Springs, FL. On Monday, Kaia decided to stay home from camp (which actually was a pretty difficult decision for her given that she loves camp AND that it was High School Musical week). When they left, on Tuesday...it was pretty rough on them. Kaia was crying on and off the whole morning before school (we went to the airport at 5am). Sean didn't get any tears from them!!! I guess that's a good thing because I'd rather it be like nothing for them when Sean goes out to sea rather than it being heartbreaking everytime. Anyhoo, as usual, it was hard to see them leave. They are some of the biggest blessings in our lives...that's for darn sure!

Savannah, GA was great...in between the THUNDERSTORMS! Yup...as soon as we got there, the skies opened up and laid a can of whoop a$$ on Savannah. It was still beautiful...and yummy there!

After our DELICIOUS buffet at The Pirate's House...one definite thing I'll miss about the South...FRIED CHICKEN!

Po-po & A-yi taking pictures of the local pirate.

Our family seems to love buying our kids these ginormous lollipops wherever we go!

Sometimes, I'm not sure if our kids remember that WE are their parents. ;o)

Silver Springs, FL is near Ocala, FL. None of that means anything to me either. ;o) We visited Silver Springs and luckily narrowly missed a thunderstorm! We toured the natural springs of the park (where movies/shows such as Tarzan, Seaquest, parts of The Crocodile Hunter, etc. were filmed). The cloudy day worked in favor for us giving us respite from this lovely FL heat. Oh yeah, we did pass Jumbolair. It's a neighborhood of AVIATION ESTATES. Yes, every house has it's own hangar. John Travolta has an estate here. Craziness.

1 of 3 Glass Bottom boat tours that tour the springs.

I'm not going to lie, 80 ft. high and who knows how old this bad boy was...I almost needed a diaper and a vomit-catcher.
The Fam Minus 1 standing inside the Horseshoe Palm Tree...5 years good luck if you pose in the middle.

So, this week was High School Musical...one of Kaia's favorite movies that she still hasn't watched in its entirety. ;o) She had a blast!!! Enrollment was tripled this week...so there were LOTS of new faces and LOTS of older kids. She told me how all these big kids like picking her up and calling her cute. The teachers told me how she's Miss Popular and also that the older kids all adore her. I kid you not, it took an extra 10 minutes to leave because all these big kids were all hugging, kissing, and loving on her! It was really great to see. They were all telling me all cute she is and was a sweet girl she is. They even started loving on Jaron too...who got all super shy and clung to my thigh. Kaia told me how the older girls want to be her mom while they are at camp. How cute is that? Anyway, I'm really proud of her (does it show) and she's totally excelling. We're really blessed to have these two boogers.

I know, it's really hard to spot Kaia...heh heh heh.

Kaia and one of her "moms" Justine.

"Ice" (apparently that's his nickname) and the lead of the show & Ms. Thang. Daddy might not be too happy with this shot (as with the other shot of her & Jordan during Hip Hop week).

Kaia & her Groupies. L to R: Christine, Kaia, Rachel, Megan, Justine, & Ice.

The Groupies/"Mommies+Daddy" saying goodbye again...I think we were actually holding up the rest of their performance.

Seriously, how cute is this??

Of course, I wouldn't leave you without video clips. You can always catch more on our YouTube.

Something New

Get Your Head in the Game

Attempted Abduction

2008-06-30T11:31:00.001-07:00

So, I've decided to keep the tone on this site pretty family-friendly. You can read my blog about this topic. An update for our family though...we're "single" today and missing Sean already.

Hip-Hop Hooray

2008-06-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today concluded week 2 of Kaia's summer camp. This week's theme was hip-hop...which Kaia thoroughly enjoyed! Reverting back to bragging parent...Kaia's ballet teacher told me yesterday she loves dancing with her and that she's very talented. She also said the hip-hop teacher loves her since she can tell her to do something and Kaia does it very well. The hip-hop teacher told me today to keep her in dance because she's "so good" and that "she'll be famous one day". Hehehehe...yeah, that was nice to hear.

Anyway...this week was better socially for Kais. The means girls were wittled down from 2 to 1...with the remaining one being the instigator. She did hit Kaia in the beginning of the week and now they're friends. I love my daughter's forgiving heart. I really admire Kaia's level of forgiveness. Even though those girls were so mean to her, she continued to be nice and never tried to be anything less than nice to them.

Ms. Social Butterfly has lots of friends...noticeably older ones who all love to pick her up. Hahahaha. There's Sarah who is 9 and wants to adopt Kaia...or at least babysit her. ;o) Sarah & Kaia could not be more opposite...Sarah is tall, blond, & quiet. Kaia...well, you know her. ;o) There's Jordan, who's 5...Lily C. (not sure her age) who likes to carry her...Olivia, 7, who is an APIA little girl and all the kids were calling her and Kaia "twins" (welcome to the South) and Charlie, the mean girl who's wised up and now nice to Kaia. ;o)

Sarah & Kaia

Kaia & Jordan

Charlie, Lily C., & Kaia

Anyhoo, the hip-hop skit was a little questionable. I'm a little worried about how it might have taught these kids (camp is ages 4 to 12) that hip-hop culture is about cool names, hand signs, & poses. Argh...it's camp and each genre is only taught for 5 days. With such a broad range of ages and the emphasis being on the arts, it's not like there's going to be a program that will teach hip-hop with enough respect to the culture.

Last week Kaia was the only person of color. This week was a bit more diverse at least.

Next week we have off. The following will be "High School Musical" for the theme.

Sean was supposed to be gone today but is still here. But not really since he has duty today. Booooooooooo. At least we'll get to talk to him...at some point. ;o)

Jaron's nickname for me is "Girlfriend" or "Boom Boom". I hope he doesn't call me the latter in public. I don't know where he got Boom Boom from...seriously.

Here is a video clip of all the kids...but it's blurry because I switched it to video mode too quickly without refocusing it. I'll be posting the two videos to YouTube. I'm currently working on my next project...buying a new camera!!!! I'd still love a DSLR but will be settling on another P&S until we can afford it!

Mama/Grandma Yuan should enjoy this clip since it's her favorite song...

"Who Let the Dogs Out?"

Kaia May...Future A-Lister

2008-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Posing post-performance w/flowers from Jaron.

Yup, I call it now...my daughter is going to be a celebrity...;o)

Kaia had her first summer camp performance. She's currently enrolled in Northeast FL's Premier Summer Arts program...a 7 week summer camp. She was FABULOUS and stole the show at times...seriously. At one point, everyone looked at me and Jaron...with big grins and giggles (them AND us).

Only low point of this first week...MEAN GIRLS!! Boooooo. Kaia constantly tried to befriend two older girls who weren't having it with her. They kept getting meaner to her as the week progressed. Don't worry, I was a good girl @ the performance and didn't do anything evil...hehehe. But seriously, it was very hard to see Kaia start to have to navigate these types of social situations and watching the pain she went through yesterday...when the older girls told a younger girl (and friend of Kaia's) to go hit Kaia (which the 3YO did). Poor Baby Girl. My sweetheart is a tough cookie and isn't afraid to let bullies know they're being bad (in general...like the time she had a gang of younger kids behind her and she made this 8YO boy bully cry because she yelled at him for not being nice to the younger kids...yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-uh!!). But, to see her cry & be so depressed yesterday was heart & gut-wrenching. It really takes a LOT to get to her since she has such a wonderfully thick skin. Poor girl. But, now her teachers know and she said today was a good day. =)

Anyhoo...she was a butterfly in the play (and might damn good one at that) and wearing her t-shirt that she made this week. OK, I picked the two best clips...the third clip I wanted was too large to upload...boooooooo. Seriously, this girl ROCKED!!!! She is just so amazing and AWESOME. BTW, did you know that "awesome" was banished in 2007? Whatever...my daughter BROUGHT IT and was AWESOME! Plus, her teachers think she's such a natural (not a surprise with Ms. Tippy Toes) dancer and was really surprised that she didn't have any prior dance experience.

Enjoy!

Scene Stealer.

Spiderella Ballet Dancing

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to the BEST dad in the whole world...my dearest, buffest hubby!!!!! Seriously, no one can compare to what an AWESOME father you are to the kids! What's more...is that EVERYONE is always commenting on how great of a father (and hubby) you are...something we
already know and always knew!!!

Plus, you are an amazing person! You are definitely one of the MODEST & most HUMBLE people I know. You hate showing off your buffness (I don't know why?!?!), you downplay your achievements, and NEVER EVER BRAG about anything. I LOVE IT!!!

Now...if you were actually home to celebrate and not having to stand duty on your special day, that would be nice!!! Ahhhh...the needs of the Navy.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!