Tree Trimming

Yesterday we had some help in putting up our first Christmas tree as a family. Before, our place didn't really have room, and I thought k would just knock it down. Now we have to worry about n, I guess, but I don't want k to miss out now that she is more cognizant of Christmas.


One nice thing about vaulted ceilings is that you can accomodate a tall tree!


Once a year, around Oct.-Nov., I have a craving for pumpkin cheesecake. This definitely fulfilled that craving!

Tonight we had our first Advent family devotional. Still need to work on Advent calendar activities.

Thanksgiving in the 80's

Not the 1980's, but as in 80 something degree weather. It just didn't seem right. I didn't post earlier because I left my camera at my parents' place...oops. We started the day off with pumpkin pancakes with cranberry sauce.


Then we went to the park across the street. There were a lot of other dads. I guess the moms were busy in the kitchen.







I, on the other hand, had it easy. The only thing I made to bring to my parents' house was "healthified" creamed corn. We also brought frozen puff pastry appetizers from Costco and a pumpkin pie from Marie Callendar's, courtesy of our neighborhood real estate agent. Thanks Jeff!



The turkey! I have yet to cook a turkey myself...someday. My cousin, aunt and grandma were at my parents' house too. I love how our country set aside a day just to give thanks. Too bad more people don't acknowledge WHO they're actually thanking.

And it Begins...

For me, this week marks the beginning of the holiday busy season. I feel like there is so much to do. I think I feel more pressure this year to make the holiday season meaningful for k, since she is more aware and understands a whole lot more than before. It is somewhat ironic that my effort to instill meaning into the holiday season can turn into something that actually impedes the true message. We'll just have to strive for balance, I guess.

This past Monday we intended to take the ferry to Balboa Island. However, we ended up walking on a bridge over Newport Harbor and found ourselves on the island. Magic!


We tried an "original" frozen banana from Dad's. The applesauce donut was pretty good too. I want to try an apple cider donut at an apple orchard someday.

Yesterday we went to Le Diplomate near UC Irvine. 348 people gave it 4.5 stars on Yelp, so we had high expectations.

We had two 9 inch sandwiches: chicken eggplant and chicken broccoli mushroom. Pictured is only one half of one sandwich. The sandwiches come with a rich garlic suace, which definitely is a standout. At first, D scoffed at the idea of a 9 inch (he's used to Subway footlongs), but it was quite filling. We barely finished them, and that was with k helping us. We also bought a baguette fresh out of the oven for $2 for my sister/BIL. It had a nice soft interior, with a crackly crust. We saw one girl fold one in half and stuff it in her messenger bag so she could ride off with it on her bicycle. Too funny.

It was kind of fun hanging out with all of the UCI students...we tend to forget that we live so close to a UC school. I'm kind of curious to try to the other "student favorites" around the area.


Meanwhile, n is sitting up by himself a lot more, as well as pulling himself up to standing. We have to watch him a lot more, since he is still not too steady. He's growing up too fast!

Happy 8 Month Birthday!

OC Japan Street Fair

Mazda was the main sponsor for the OC Japan Street Fair at the OC Fairgrounds, so D snagged some free tickets. We weren't sure what to expect, but my youngest sister went in the morning and told us it was VERY crowded. The parking attendant told us the crowd had lightened up somewhat (we arrived around 4 p.m.) It was pretty small; more food options would have been nice. Here's what we tried:


Beef sticks and rice ($6)--k enjoyed this the best
Shrimp tempura roll ($6)--the one sushi booth was overpriced for the amount, but it was OK


Okonomiyaki ($5)--a Japanese "pizza/pancake" made with eggs, potatoes, cabbage, etc. It was pretty filling, and definitely the most interesting.

The longest line was for the takoyaki (octopus dumpling balls)--no thanks. I think those were all of the food booths, aside from one selling gelato.

While we were eating, a representative from Yakult went on and on about probiotics and bacteria in the colon. Lovely. After the "ruffle" (this Japanese guy's way of saying "raffle"), there was a woman who performed a "Geta dance". The music was kind of scary, but k watched most of it.



Afterward we decided to make a stop at 85 degrees bakery at Diamond Jamboree. We arrived just after 5 p.m., and the line to pay was out the door!


We bought a "mini" choco bun, blueberry bun, and cranberry tart ($1.50 each). I liked k's choco bun--not overly sweet. The blueberry bun was still warm, and tasted like it was filled with Yoplait blueberry yogurt.

Don't worry, she did not eat the whole thing!


Poor n, we think he is allergic to wheat (as found in Cheerios). Plus, his face broke out once when I was wearing a sweater with a little angora. We're also still battling his eczema, although it has improved somewhat since we stopped using all soaps. I hope his food allergies aren't too extensive, since our family enjoys eating so much!

Kodak House Party

This morning we hosted a Kodak "house party" via houseparty.com. I basically just used it as an excuse to get together with some friends, but we were able to make a free photobook, mug, card and prints for free, too. We also passed out 40% off coupons to our guests, so hopefully that will be useful too.


Here is our display table. I sewed a bedsheet cover for our cardtable for a playhouse for k, and just used it as the tablcloth.


Our simple spread of food. There was also puff pastry appetizers from Costco that aren't shown, as well as a crockpot of pumpkin spice latte.


Each guest went home with a mini loaf of pumpkin coconut bread. I guess pumpkin was the food theme, since I also made pumpkin cream cheese.

We need to have people over regularly...it really motivated us to clean up!

Media Niche: Before & After

We were relieved to find out that the 37" Vizio we bought from Costco last year would just fit into the media niche in our new family room. (We were actually contemplating buying the 42", so good thing we didn't.) Our house was built in 1997, so the built in media niche was designed before the wide flat screen era.

Here is what our our tv and components looked like "before". Not pretty.


After much finagling, trips to Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target and eventually ordering online, I was able to make this area presentable. (Yes, it was me, not D who did this. He's done other things around the house, but we can talk about that later.)
The "after":

Ah, so much better, so much easier on the eyes. I felt a sense of triumph last night when I finished. It is also much safer, since n is starting to grab at things. This morning, k asked "Where are the wires?" Victory is mine! Now on to the rest of the house!

La Habra Children's Museum

La Habra Children's Museum has been offering free admission on the first Saturday of the month thanks to Target. Today we were able to take advantage of the deal and visit for our first time. It was small, but cute. We went through it all in about 35 minutes, mainly because k didn't want to do the involved activities, like playing dress up, etc.

I was getting frustrated because k didn't immediately want to explore and look at everything like all of the other kids. I just have to remind myself that it takes her a while to warm up to things, and that is OK.


Watching D fill the car up.


Debating whether to buy a pretzel at the grocery store.


There is a part of a real OCTD bus inside.






The kids can pet the animals, "in the direction the fur grows"--kind of gross. Of course, k didn't want to. She was interested in the fish tank, though, so maybe a trip to the aquarium again is in order.


A moving train set, complete with a 7-Eleven.


k's favorite toy of the day. She also like the small blue couch in the play kitchen area.




There was also a nice little playground outside. I was keeping my eye out for Octomom, since we were in La Habra, but no sightings.

Oh, and on our way there I spotted The Hat, a famous pastrami place. D's been there with co-workers, but I had never been, so on our way back we went through the drive-thru. We ordered 1 pastrami dip sandwich and 1 order of onion rings. The bread for the sandwich is not that big, but they put a LOT of meat in it. Since I like a lower meat to bread ratio, we just added the extra meat to sandwich bread at home. So, the one sandwich filled us all up, plus we couldn't even finish the one order of onion rings. I also noted that they gave us 20 packets of ketchup. Is that really necessary? They could cut down on their variable costs considerably by limiting their ketchup distribution.

Charlie Brown & Church

On Friday night we started a family tradition of watching the Peanuts Halloween Special while drinking hot chocolate. k's questions during the show were so funny..."Is that a boy or a girl?" (re: all of the characters); "Why are they wearing towels on their heads?" (re: everyone dressed up as ghosts); "Why is that girl yelling? That's not nice." (re: Sally yelling at Linus about missing out on the Tricks or Treats). Can't wait for her to watch the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials, which are even better.

Saturday night we went to our church's annual Harvest Festival. k dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood again because the lovely cape that my mom knitted still fit, and was worth another year's use. n had an easy outfit too--a baseball uniform sleeper that was given to him as a gift. D wore his Cheerios shirt. I'm not into dressing up, so I just wore black.


Don't you love how our kids are looking in opposite directions, neither one at the camera? k actually got quite upset right before this picture was taken. Maybe there were too many people? She wasn't too thrilled with the first few games, but she gradually warmed up. She surprised me by landing a couple rings on the lollipop toss, throwing some bean bags into a clown's mouth, and squirting a boat with a water gun. She was also into picking out her candy prizes, although she was probably more excited about the non-candy prizes, such as a glow bracelet, and mini beach ball.




"Meet the Pastor" booth. Welcome back from sabbatical, Pastor Ted!


We skipped the dinner because our local real estate agent hosted another pizza party at the community pool. We did buy a boba, though.


k had some popcorn. There was also shaved ice.


k's never had cotton candy before, so I thought we would let her try it this time.


She's not a fan.


When we came home, we saw some trick-or-treaters, so I thought we could take k to a couple of houses. We went to one, and they had run out of candy. Then we went to one more, k picked a couple of pieces, and we went home. I think it was just too late. No one rang our doorbell after we came home, either. Time to start thinking about next year's costumes!