Party Time and Other Weekend Happenings

It was quite a busy weekend for us.  We celebrated Michael's birthday with a family dinner at his favorite restaurant, Kobeya.  Ever since he was a little itty-bitty boy, he loves to go to hibachi-style grill (the place where they cook at your table was what he would say) restaurants for dinner.  When we were living in Frisco and he was about 4 years old, he would use our coffee table as the grill and would pretend that he's the chef. He would ask "you want fly lice? OK, I make you fly lice" with the Chinese accent.  I kid you not.  It was hilarious! Now my baby is 11 years old - and still loves his fly lice without vegetables.

This was the best picture I got of him.  It doesn't look like, but we did have a good time!

We continued the celebration with his birthday party at Urban Air.  He loves that place!  In fact, he was just there Friday afternoon with his buddy, Daniel. We had about 13 of his buddies and they were rowdy!  All they wanted to do was play, and I guess I don't blame them.  It took close to 15 minutes to coral them to the table when it was time for cake.

Mark as not one to miss out on the fun and he kept up with the big boys!  He started out in the toddler area, but was bored with it after a little while.  He wanted to be where the big kids were and threw a fit when I tried to keep him away from the foam pit. He loved it so much that he was still trying to jump even when he was exhausted to the point where his body couldn't keep up anymore.  He would jump and fall over because his little legs were so tired.

Then we came home and opened up gifts. He's got a lot of Thank You notes to write!

Here's Mark giving Michael directions on which gift he should open.

Matthew was very helpful and helped eat the candy that Michael received.

After all the gifts were opened, we had a few minutes to relax.

Then it was off to Matthew's baseball game!  It was a very exciting game.  Matthew's team was behind 6-11 and in the last inning, they almost came back to tie it!  Unfortunately, they had some unlucky hits to 1st base and lost 10-11.  Matthew was awesome!  He was hustling and fielding the ball so much better than last season.  He has another game on Tuesday, and we're so excited to see him out there again.  Go Purple Dragons! Hopefully, I can get better pictures during the next game.

Mark did not nap AT ALL on Saturday, but he made up for it on Sunday.  He slept for more than 2 hours.  I think we all needed a little rest time after our busy Saturday.

I made caramelized chicken for dinner yesterday when the boys' friends were over.  The recipe called for fish sauce.  When I used the fish sauce in my cooking, I heard the crowd in the playroom asking, "what's that horrible smell?"  They even thought it might have been Mark's diaper.  HAHAHA! Matthew has demanded that I never make anything using fish sauce again. I told him I couldn't make that promise.

What We Did - Week 12

I'm a little behind on this post and thought about not doing one for week 12, but I think it's important to document this.  Plus, if I start missing one, it's going to be easier for me to slack on this.  There are lots of holes this week, but I think that's OK.  I will give myself grace. 

Day 86 - Thur.

Michael was home sick today so we just hung out at home. No pictures.

Day 87 - Fri.

Playdate with friends at the Ft. Worth Zoo today.  Mark had so much fun hanging with his older buddies.  He did butt heads with one of them, but for the most part he enjoyed running around with them and watching the orangutan blow him kisses.  I think he likes the elephants and the monkeys best.  Him and his friends also had a weird fascination with garbage cans.  These were the ones with the swinging lids and all the kids loved to push the lids and watch it swing.  ALL of them took turns doing this. Mark also loved our train ride!

Day 88 - Sat.
Opening Day of baseball season for Matthew! Michael also had his last soccer game of the season at almost the same time so we divided and conquered.  M took Michael to his soccer game and I took Matthew to his baseball game.  Mark stayed home with Jennie.  Matthew's team won 12-4 and Michael's team won 4-0.  Good sports day.  After our game, I had to pick up a few things at the grocery store and Matthew stayed in the car.  This was what he did to entertain himself! Silly selfies!

Day 89 - Sun.
We didn't do much today! Lots of March Madness watching. I don't remember much and no pictures. Told you there were holes this week.

Day 90 - Mon.
I think the most exciting thing today was that I took Mark grocery shopping - haha.  He had a lots of fun helping get what we needed.  He loves helping the check out people unload the shopping cart. No picture for this one either.

Day 91 - Tue. 
We went to story time today and met up with our friend Sam.  We didn't get a chance to hang out afterwards, but Mark had fun dancing with her during story time.  There was almost a meltdown when he was not chosen to hold the button or to feed the monkey puppet.  Again, no pictures.  I'm horrible.  I will have to do better next week!

Day 92 - Wed.
Happy Birthday to my first baby!  He turned 11 at 5pm today!!! Ahhh!! He brought donuts to celebrate with his homeroom classmates.  Then I surprised him by pulling him out of school for his birthday lunch.  He chose Steak 'n Shake.  Not my favorite, but definitely his. Sarah was so sweet and got him a gift card. M was out so we will do gifts when we have his birthday dinner at Kobeya (his favorite dinner place) on Friday. Love this more so much.

I hope I have more pictures for next week's post!  That's my goal anyway.

What We Did - Week 11

Day 78 - Wed.
We had so much fun at the Monterey Aquarium!

Day 79 - Thur.
Our last full day in CA.  I didn't take any pictures, but we had a nice relaxing day at home.

Day 80 - Fri.
Our morning started early! we had to be on our way to SFO at 5am. It's always sad to have to say good-bye. Michael looking like a full-fledged tween at SFO.

Day 81 - Sat.
It's good to be home. Michael had a soccer game and Matthew had an awesome time at a friends birthday party.

Day 82 - Sun.

I found this selfie that Michael took of himself and his little bro.  Love these guys.

Day 83 - Mon.
Mark and I went to the mall and we stopped for a pretzel break.

Day 84 - Tue.
I didn't take any pictures today. I dropped Mark off at G-pa's for a couple of hours because I had a PTO meeting to attend and then we went grocery shopping after.

Day 85 - Wed.
We went and had lunch with Matthew.  Mark watched the fish while we waited for Matthew by the cafeteria.

I Feel Pretty Link-Up

I've spent the first part of this week trying to get back into the swing of things.  Is anyone struggling to make lunches for their kiddos? I am. I have the pickiest kids on the planet.

Because we took the boys out of school 2 days before Spring Break, they are having to do extra school time to make up the work they missed and I'm having to shuttle them around. And I'm having to listen to them complain about it.

Anyway, I did find the motivation to get dressed because I planned on participating in the I Feel Pretty linkup with Alison. Otherwise, it would've have been yoga pants all week long.

I wore this outfit on Monday.  I had to change out of the sweater later during the day because it got really warm. The turquoise jeans are Miss Me, the sweater is from Target, the checker shirt is from Gap, and the shoes are Tahari from TJ Maxx.

I haven't worn anything bootcut in a while so I thought I would pull these bootcut cords out again.  The pants are from Banana Republic, the sweater is from Gap and the tank is from Old Navy. The shoes are Nine West.

Happy Hump Day and enjoy the rest of your week!

Spring Break 2014

We went to visit my family in California for Spring Break.  It was so good to be back in California and it was nice to be able to spend time with everybody, especially my little nephew, Ben-Ben.  What was really fun to see was Mark and Ben getting to know each other!

The boys were so good on the flights to and from even when they had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport to catch our flight home.  I was so proud of them!

Mark and Matthew looking outside at the plane we were going on.  Love these cuties!

Gotta have fresh strawberries in CA! Matthew and Ben enjoying a healthy snack.

 Mark and Yee-Yee had some cuddle time! She's probably one of his favorite people.

Michael and Yee-Yee selfie!

 Mark and Ben shared some rice eating time.

Then we went outside and try some long boarding.

My parents took us out to dinner to celebrate Michael's birthday.

We spent some time at the donut shop.

Then we spent some time with friends up in San Francisco.  It was a perfect day to take a ferry ride on the bay and have lunch out in Sausalito!

M and his godson, Kenny.  He was such a happy little guy!

I gave Matthew some Dramamine for the ferry ride so he was still a little bit groggy. Can you tell?

On our way to Monterey Bay Aquarium, I got to sit next to this guy.  He wasn't very talkative ;-)

When we got there, this was what I found when I opened the car door. Super cute boys!

I can't wait to see them again in June for my sister's wedding in Hawaii!  June can't come fast enough.