Trick or treat!

For me this was the worst Halloween ever! It was wet and cold and windy, but I don't think the kids noticed. They had a blast! Here they are my little spiderman and my little flower, ready to go out just as our neighbors rang our doorbell.

We were out there for 1 and 1/2 hours. The kids came home with two huge bags of candy and I came home with a headache!

A Hostile makeover

I happened to be running errands at lunch and ended up being offered a free Lise Watier makeover. I was pressed for time and would usually have turned it down, but these days I never get a chance to put on any make-up in the morning rush so I accepted. The make-up artist Janet was really sweet and she worked really fast so that I wouldn't be late getting back to my desk.

This is my before picture.

Here's the after shot.

Janet gave me a natural look so my makeover wouldn't be so obvious to my co-workers.You can't really see a big difference in the pictures, but it looked amazing. I felt so pretty for the rest of the day!

They all scream for ice cream

A lunchtime treat from their Nanu. Dreading the sugar high that will inevitably follow!

Cuddling in the mornings

Even though are mornings are very rushed, my daughter and I found some time to cuddle together this morning. She's lost a lot of her baby fat =( but she still gives the best hugs ever! This is what she does:

1. Firmly encircles the object of her affection with her arms
2. Gives a little squeeze
3. Gives a few comforting pats - this is my favourite part!

Here we are post hug - it's the best way to start my day!

Fashion advice from a four year old

The first thing my son asked me when he saw me this morning is:
"Did your sweater shrink?"
When I said no he asked me if I had this sweater from when I was little.
"Maybe did your mom cutted it?"
When I explained to him that this was the style of the sweater he looked perplexed.
"You should wear something else, it won't keep you warm."
Who is this little boy?!

Girlie playdate

We had a fun playdate with some of my daughter's friends from daycare. The moms were comparing notes and what we realized is that we have very bossy little girls. You would have thought that three such dominant personalities would have resulted in many conflicts during the playdate, but instead they were very sweet and considerate of each other.

There was much sharing and hugging and when it was time to go, our host helped us put our shoes on!

Chili chicks

That's the name of our cooking club. The first thing we cooked together was chili so we thought it was fitting. Our second session was very ambitious. We made 5 dishes in five hours. Here is the list of things we cooked:

Salisbury steak
Cajun chicken fettuccine
Chicken with wild rice casserole
Pumpkin soup
Pumpkin muffins

We chopped, stirred, stir fried and mixed

It was intense but also very fun!

Having a Martha Stewart moment.

Pre-babies, I used to wear a lot of jewelry. After my son was born almost five years ago, I stopped wearing any. I think my kids are finally at an age where I can safely wear something without it being in danger of being tugged or put in a mouth. In typical business analyst fashion, to re-introduce jewelry in my life - I made a plan.

Project wear more jewelry

Step 1- on my sister's advice I bought a hanging jewelry organizer.
Step 2 - I invited my lovely friend Trish over to help me organize my jewelry. She's amazing! Last year she organized my closet and the system she put in place still works for me.
Step 3 - hang it up.
Voila!



It's like having your own jewelry store in your closet! The only sad thing is that my pieces are costume jewelry and some of them didn't make it through 5 years of storage! Oh well! I still have more than enough that survived. Looking forward to getting dressed in the morning now =)

Me and my mini check

My daughter and I share many personality traits and now we share our taste in fall coats too! She calls hers a snowy coat. Mine is two years old and purchased on sale from forever 21. Look at her scrunched up face smile! It makes me want to kiss her cheeks! I love you big girl!

Kiddie concert

We took the kids to a wiggles concert.

We went with my daughter's best friend from daycare and her family.

We all had fun.

It was interesting to watch the kids watch the show. They were thoroughly engaged and spent some of the time dancing, but they spent most of the time looking pensive. Look at my daughter with a finger to her chin like she's thinking really hard about what she's watching. You wouldn't guess by looking at these pictures that they were at a wiggles concert!

 My favorite part was when Greg did some Gangnam Style dancing at the very end! So very funny.  Even my husband, who had major reservations going into the show, came out saying he had a good time!

Little friends!

Look he made some friends!

Creepy dream

I had a dream that my hair was infested with.......snails. In their tiny little shells, they clung to clumps of  my hair strands and would not let go. Someone was helping me get rid of the snails. This person reached into the back of my hair and pulled a big snail out. It made a suctioning "shlop" noise as it was forced to let go of my scalp. As it was removed the other small snails automatically fell out of my hair. On closer examination the big snail was the mommy snail and had been birthing the smaller snails. The big snail had been crushed as it was extracted and green stuff oozed out of breaks in the shell. The dream has stayed with me all day and my skin is still crawling from the thought of it. Anyone know what it means? I made a picture of the snail for illustration purposes. It might not have been blue in my dream, but blue was the only crayon that I had on hand =).

A very glue thanksgiving

I am literally dead on my feet! With much help from my husband and sister, I was able to put on a feast for thanksgiving. Here's what we made:
Wilted spinach with shrimp in a balsamic dressing

Seasoned mashed potatoes

Turkey (my husband's specialty)

Bifstek (filipino dish made by my sister)

Roasted veggies (team effort)

Gravy (my sister and husband)

Tuna pasta (a dish I learnt to make at home economics in high school.)

Everyone  enjoyed the meal and there are enough left overs to last for a while. All's well that ends well right?
Note - the three drawings on the pantry wall are turkey related artwork done by my children.

Feeling full

Went to dinner with my family last night. Here are all fifteen of us.

The restaurant had a playground for the kids a la Macdonald's.

The kids loved it. At the end of the night both my belly and heart was full. So when I woke up this morning, I was really motivated to run, even though it was 5C outside. It was exhilarating. Now I am waiting for breakfast. Yesterday this is what my breakfast looked like.

I wonder what my husband will cook up this morning! It better be hearty, I have a big day of cooking ahead!

Heartfelt Prayer

My son said a prayer this morning. He asked "please send someone kind to be my friend."

Poor thing, he hasn't made any connections in school yet. Last year, with it school being every other day, I had low expectations of him making any friends. This year I was hoping he would find a kindred spirit. I know he's capable of having friends:

1. His cousin is his best friend
2. He has another friend that he has known since he was 3 months
3. There is a boy at daycare he is very good friends with

It just hasn't happened for him at school yet. He says he's scared to ask other children to play with him because he thinks they'll say no. So he spends recess playing by himself. Since I'm such an extrovert, his shyness is hard for me to understand. Well I'm saying a prayer for him myself. I hope he finds someone wonderful to be friends with!

Balancing act

In the glue household we have some pretty complicated rules when it comes to electronic devices. I will try to describe them in the list below:

1. No family member shall engage in watching TV on a week night, before the children are soundly asleep
2. Children may not be exposed to electronic devices such as computers, iPhones or video games during the     week
3. No violent gaming allowed (no guns or killing)
4. TV can be watched without limits on the weekends, provided the content is child friendly
5. Children can play educational games on the computer on weekends

These rules were difficult for my husband and I to implement. I must confess I went through a period of TV withdrawal when we first started. Now we are all used to it and enjoy spending time interacting with each other instead of just merely being together in the same room absorbed in a passive form of entertainment. Also I think my children enjoy watching their shows more intensely. Here is a series of pictures my husband took of my daughter watching her favourite show, Dora.

The only downside is that my kids are not as electronically proficient as other children. For example I bought a second hand leapster for my son from a mom-to-mom sale. It is a car toy and he is allowed to play with it on the weekends when we find ourselves travelling or running errands for most of the day. (We only have one car and I don't drive so we travel en masse.) My son has spent maybe three hours in total with it and he still doesn't know how to play with it. He says the only thing he has figured out to do is press a button so it can read to him. (The help button which triggers the device to explain the rules.) When you contrast this with many children out there who have their own iPads, I wonder if he is at a disadvantage. Part of me thinks it doesn't matter what is skill level is, he will end up learning on his own, in his own time - it's inevitable!