IRL

This blog started as a way to keep my family updated on all things we were up to. As a great big bonus we have met some amazing people and made some real friends along the way.

Last week we met up with Jan and Bob. Jan had send me the last 2 books of the Hunger Games Trilogy and we decided to finally meet IRL (in real life) when it was time to give them back!

  Jan has been reading this here ol' blog for awhile now. And I have been reading hers for a while now too! She always leaves us nice comments and even sends the girls really super awesome surprises! Books, and dolls and even the most beautiful home-made quilt for Lou.

Jan's blogs are creative, fun and interesting. And after a 3 hour meal we found that Jan and Bob are super awesome interesting people. They live a life filled with books and many, many adventures. They reminded us of us! Bob was the quiet type (Joey!) and Jan is the talker (Me!). They have 2 daughters (Umm Phi and Lou! Hello!) And then we found out that we drive the same kind of car!

We are already looking forward to out next meet up!

Click Here to find one of Jan's blogs!

Cool Photo Trick!

Stare at the red dot for 30 seconds. 

Then look up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly. 

Rad huh? 

I saw this cool trick over at Living Locurto! 

The Phi's New Clothes

The other night I cleaned out The Phi's closet. Since she wears a uniform to school we never really buy her any clothes. This became apparent when after taking out all the size 4-5 clothes she was left was very very little. The next day we hit the mall and did our best to add a little to her closet.

CLICK HERE to see the most amazing fashion show ever!!!

Know When To Go

This news story hit home for me this week. I believe that the pizza place is in the right and that it is sad that parents have to be reminded about these simple kind of courtesy's. 

Here is what happened to us. Every Wednesday I take my kids to a Story and Craft Hour at the local library. This program is geared toward kids 5-9 and younger siblings are welcome. This past Wednesday there was a larger than normal group of kids and there were 2 families there that just didn't know when to call it a day and leave. First there was a Mom with 4 kids. The younger boys were just not able to sit still while the story was being read. They were spinning, talking, at one point one was literally trying to climb the wall. A complete distraction. The Mom alternated between doing 2 things, crocheting and packing up the kids (talk about distracting) and heading out the door only to come back in a few minutes later. She seriously did this 3 times.

And she was not the worst offender. There was a Dad there was his little girl who looked to be about 3 years old. She would not sit in one place. She kept talking, getting up and wandering to the craft tables. The librarian had to repeatedly stop the story to ask the little girl to sit down and be quiet. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Dad’s reaction to all this made it a million times worse. He scolded the little girl over and over. He also does not know how to whisper because he was so loud. He threatened her with leaving about 25456 times. He would grab her and wrestle her into a sitting position on the floor. He was literally chasing her around the tables and even hit her a few times. This made the little girl angrier and eventually lead to tears. All this while the poor librarian was trying to read to the kids. And my poor kid was obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. It was a total utter mess.

This pizza place I feel has the right idea. They understand that kids are going to be noisy and will sometimes cry but there is a difference between normal behavior and out of your control behavior. When your child has crossed the line and it being distracting to everyone around them and you cannot control them you have reached a new level. As the parent you need to deal with the situation and be respectful of the people around you.

My Mom always jokes that I was such a pain in public as a baby that they just didn’t go anywhere. With my kids I took a different approach. I felt that in order for them to learn how to behave in public, they needed to be in public places. We have always taken our kids everywhere. But if my child's behavior is beyond the normal and I cannot control her I immediately leave the situation. I didn’t threaten to leave a million times. I just leave.  I can remember a grocery shopping trip where my daughter would not stop crying and yelling. Probably for cookies. When I realized that I had lost control, I immediately took her from the cart and left my full cart in the aisle and left the store.

Watching this Dad chase around his kid made me so angry. I felt that my kid, and the other kids who were sitting quietly, were getting gipped because this parent did not have the sense to realize that his child was not ready for such a structured setting. That his reaction was making everyone around him uncomfortable. I wanted to say something. I wanted to say “I don’t think your daughter is ready for this. Maybe you should leave, take her home and talk to her about how to behave in this kind of situation and try coming back in a few weeks.” Of course I didn't. But I wanted to.

What do you think about how these pizza place handled the situation? How to you handle your kids in public? How do you handle other people's out of control kids?

Valentine's Day Rewind

It was a day of showering my people with love! The Phi was super excited to take the treats her Daddy made to school. To say they were a hit is an understatement. When I picked her up from school 3 teachers swarmed me to tell me how good they were!

I also slipped a card and small heart box of chocolates into The Phi's lunch box. Joey and I also had a rose delivered to her classroom.

I had been sick for the past 2 days so I slept most of the day away. About 1:30 we got a call from Joey's Dad that he was on his way out. He had some Valentine's day treats for the girls! He brought some boxes of conversation hearts, singing glowing teddy bears and pack after pack of kit-kats. (He had overhead The Phi trade a snickers for a kit-kat once!) Then Grandpa took us out for a late lunch!

We wish we could have spent more time with Grandpa Bobo but The Phi had her church school so off we went. There The Phi got even more treats and cards! Then we headed out to a little local pizza place for dinner and more gifts!

The Phi opened her gift to find a new pack of nail polishes!

Lou liked her Scooby-Doo card! 

The Phi also got some new fuzzy owl pajama pants!

A new Monster Truck for our little Monster. She also got a pair of Elmo pajamas!

Since I had been sick poor Joey only got a heart box of kit-kats. Which are also his favorite! 

My Phi gave me such an awesome and cool card. It even came with a button that says "UR GR8!" 

The girls got to put on their new PJ's! 

As for me...well Joey got me this......

Because my man knows there is nothing sexier than a clean mouth! 

100 Day and How We Couldn't Top Last Year

Last year for 100 day at school The Phi took THIS 

I racked my brain and could not come up without anything that could top that. We decided to make a poster of 100 places The Phi has been. At dinner one night we came up with the list. Then I found and printed pictures of all the places. I made 3x3 collages and added the name of the place. The Phi decided on a red poster board. Joey cut the pictures out, The Phi added glue and I placed them on the board. We added some heart shaped maps and called it a day. It was an awesome family project. While we worked we were able to talk about each place and reminisce.

 

Joey and I would take the girls to see the world if we could. We were both happy to see this board filled with all these places. In 6 short years we have made so many beautiful memories with our Phi. 

Love Love Love

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height  

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.  

 How lucky can one girl be?

My 3 Valentine's are amazing.

3 beautiful, amazing souls.

They are mine all mine!

Kisses & Hugs

 

Copying Lili's Hair

The other day my sister sent me a picture of my god-daughter Lili's hair. After seeing it on Pinterest my sister put 3 cute hearts in Lili's hair. Since Lili has gorgeous silky straight hair, I thought for sure it wouldn't work on my curly wild hair kids. I looked on-line and found THIS tutorial. (This site is so great for hairstyles!) I was surprised to see how easy the hearts were and decided to try them myself. So after bath time I gave it a try.

For The Phi I just pulled all her hair into one ponytail and the results were not so bad.

Her hair is so heavy I would have to pin it so it keeps its shape. Next time I would either do 2 on each side, or just one the side.

This is so simple and quick I was even able to do it on Lou's hair.

A perfect hair-do for Valentines Day!

I couldn't just buy cookies....

Thanks to Pinterest my kid's teacher is going to think I am the most creative Mom out there. I am so hooked on Pinterest and have been trying new things all the time. The other day The Phi came home with a note that she would have to bring cookies for the Valentine's Day party. Since I have somehow also got Joey hooked onto Pinterest we both thought of these. We had also tried them when my awesome Tia Mary made some for Christmas with Rolos!! Of course we had to make them with a Valentine's day twist.

We made the mistake of waiting until the day before to buy the supplies. It took us 3 stores to find what we needed.

• Snaps Pretzels (we thought the square ones worked well)
• bag of Hershey's Hugs or Cookies and Cream
• bag of Valentine colored M&M's

First we need to give Joey props. Since I have a horrible cold I didn't want to touch the food so he did it all!

This is all done is a few easy peasey steps!

1. Preheat Oven to 200 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper
3. Place your pretzels on the wax paper
4. Unwrap and place your hug or kiss on the pretzel

   5. Place your cookie sheet into the oven for 3 1/2 minutes.
   6. Remove from oven and press a M&M right on top of the kiss or hug
   7. Refrigerate to cool
   8. Try not to eat them all!

 A perfect little combo of sweet and salty.

I really hope The Phi's teacher doesn't mind that these are technically not cookies!

You call it sleeping.....

... we call it recharging.

The Weird Sisters Book Review

"This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own." 

I am going to admit a deep dark secret. I love the Kardashians. I watch like every show combination Ryan Secreast can throw at me. The reason is I love them is because I love the dynamic between sisters. This story, The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown,  is about 3 sisters. (I am one of three sisters). They are the daughters of a Shakespeare professor and each are named after a Shakespeare character. (That is kind of like me and my sisters. Except my Dad liked cartoons and all 3 of us have nicknames based on cartoon characters.)

When their Mother is diagnosed with cancer all 3 girls come back to the small town they grew up in. Each with their own life altering problems. One with marital problems, one with financial problems, and one with an unplanned pregnancy. They gather back under their parents roof and between reading books and doctors appointment the girls are forced to deal with one another and eventually to open up to one another.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how different each of the sisters personalities were. Just like me and my 3 sisters. We have similarities and people often think of us as a group. Yet we are very different. I am the more uptight, responsible oldest kid. My middle sister is the laid back, smart and maternal one. The baby of the family is the fun party girl. Despite the differences we always get along.

Over at Blogher we having so fun discussions about this book and sisterhood. CLICK HERE to join in on the fun.

Palm Springs Food Truck Festival

Joey loves himself some Food Network. The latest and trendiest thing right now are Food Trucks. Now my experience with food trucks were getting burritos and sodas during late night graduate classes. These are not like that. On Saturday there was a Palm Spring Food Truck Festival! There was going to be a lot of trucks that Joey follows on Twitter and some from the Food Network shows.

Joey was brilliant and bought tickets on-line the night before. The longest line was the one to buy tickets. The weather was in the high 80's. It was so hot that I had to remove a layer from Lou's outfit.

Our first stop was Biker Jim's Dogs. Gourmet Sausages. The funniest thing happened when he went to order. As soon as he stepped up to the window, it was a Paparrazi sworm. There were 2 different newspaper photographers and a dude with a cell phone camera up close and in his face, snapping pictures. Now Joey knows how Brad Pitt feels like.

So our first food adventure was a Reindeer sausage hot dog. Yes reindeer. The dude even said "Merry Christmas" when he handed Joey the dog. It was very flavorful and super yummy. Joey opted for the cream cheese and grilled onions as a topping. Good call Babe. 

The next stop was the "Dos Chinos" truck. A Latin Asian Fusion food. There was a lot of fusion going on. I loved the colors of this truck and it was my turn to pick something to eat. 

I went with the whiteboard special of "Habanero Chocolate Orange Chicken" Tacos.

The sauce was as good as it sounds. The chicken was not so great. It was a take on Chinese orange chicken but it was too fried and too crunchy. But the sauce was super yummy. Like a mole sauce.

Next stop was Phi's choice. Of course she is not quite as adventurous as her parents so she went with the Tornado Potato truck.

Here she is the the original Tornado with no spices. She is a plain Jane like that. This was a bit greasy but the execution was adorable.

What I love about food trucks is the creativity that goes into naming the trucks!

Dessert Truck Haze

One of the biggest lines was for the Nom Nom truck. We didn't try it but they were on the Food Network and really popular.

Cute logo!!

Our next stop was to the winners of the Food Network Food Truck Race, Grill 'Em All. This was the longest line, but Joey waited while the girls and I sat in the shade. It was really hot.

After much thought Joey went with the "Waste Em' All" burger. Green chilis, pepper jack cheese and beer soaked onions. Yes beer soaked.

The burger was a nice medium rare, and the bread was awesome. Joey said that it tasted like a burger you would get in New Mexico, which I assume that means it's good.

Another cute name and logo. Ice Ice Shavie!

And on to desserts!

First we stopped at Mustache Mike's for a chocolate Italian Ice for The Phi. Of course Joey was a hit. He is a hit anytime mustaches and beards are concerned. The guy who served us asked to take Joey's picture with the italian ice. I am sure he will be the new spokesperson.

I was a bit skeptical about ice and chocolate but this was super tasty. So much so that The Phi (with help from Lou) ate the whole thing.

The last food stop was to Cool Haus. Am ice cream truck. An ice cream truck with a kick. Some of the flavors are....

beer & pretzels

butterscotch & rosemary

fried chicken & waffles

guinness chip

nutella almond

peking duck

thai iced tea

Joey chose the Snickerdoodle cookie with..... wait for it....................

Brown Butter and Bacon ice cream. 

It was spectacular!!!! So freakin good! 

Lou pretty much the whole time. Just keeping her spoon close and always ready to eat. 

Late Christmas Gift

Last week I picked up a package for the girls at the post office. It was belated Christmas gifts from my Bong Fong Fong and family. The Phi got the coolest owl knit cap and an owl board game! So perfect.

But Lou's gift! AMAZING!! Perfection for our little Lulu! 

Introducing.....

SUPER LOU!

And no superhero is complete without her cape! 

Thanks Jessica, Rick, Elias and Lucas. 

We love you and miss you all! 

Photo Valentine's Cards

I love Pinterest! There are a ton of great photo/craft/food/clothes/art/everything ideas on there. A long time ago I saw a photo Valentine's day card and knew that when the time came I wanted to make them. This project is super simple and fun.


You will need:
1 cute kid
camera
computer & printer
photo paper
scissors
exacto knife
candy


Step 1: Head out for a photo shoot. I kept my kid in her school uniform since she is going to be giving them out at school. Shoot from up looking down. This gives the fist the right perspective. Have your subject hold their fist up and away from them so when you add the candy it doesn't cover their face. And take A LOT of pictures. Chances are you will find one great one!

Step 2: After you find the right picture upload it to your favorite photo editing program (I love Picnik and am so sad it is closing!). Here I cropped the photo with my subject towards the left with plenty of room for text. Then I added some text and a pink heart. Last I added a pink border to up the Valentine's factor. Then save to your computer.

Step 3: Once you have edited and saved it is time for printing! I printed in a 4x6 size on photo paper. This way I can get 4 on one page. The photo paper needs to be thick enough to hold a lollipop. 

Step 4: Cut out all the cards and then grab your exacto knife. Carefully make a slice above the hand and below the hand. Long enough to hold your candy. First I tried it with a Twizzler.

I wasn't happy with that so I tried it with a lollipop and liked it so much more! 

I love these cards! And it was hard to beat the lips and mustaches we did last year! But of course The Phi will beg for a box of Justin Bieber or some cartoon ones too!