this weekend

Saturday morning was Crayola Factory with my sister and her family. Of course I forgot my camera.  Fortunately, I think my sis took lots.  We ate lunch and then headed back to our place. We went to the pool for a few hours and then finished up with Thai food for dinner.  I'm grateful for my friend (who's thai) and made us dinner the night before and gave me lots of leftovers.  It made dinner time w/ my sister and her family a piece of cake. Just made the rice, heated up the thai chicken curry, and then sauteed some sesame green beans.

Sundays are generally pretty full as we have church and home group two sundays out of the month.  Yesterday was home group day. But in addition, our jewel had a birthday party and I also took her to the pool for an hour and that seemed to take her exhaust level over the edge. poor thing crawled out of the pool complaining of a head ache and body aches so we headed home. i'm wondering if she could have caught something at the pool - although with all that chlorine, i don't know how any bacteria could survive.

today we're taking it easy and she had chills during the night and a fever this morning.

a whirlwind of days

it started on wednesday and since then it's been a procession of events!

wednesday evening, we had some friends over for a pizza dinner (my man's specialty) and they left around midnight.
then on friday, after our jewel's ballet, we had some other friends over for a pizza dinner and they left around 12:30am.
on saturday, we went to an easter egg hunt (which i drove 30 minutes for and then ended up missing) but our jewel got to pick up her dad's birthday gift so it wasn't a complete lost. then off to a friend's birthday party and then drove down to philly for a progressive dinner w/ some friends.

our precious getting serenaded at Lascala's

love this face!

appropos of nothing, both the men in the families were feeling under the weather, but because it took 3 months to get a date we could settle on, no one wanted to postpone. it was fun, but guess what time we got home? 1am. then i was up til 4am making our jewel and our precious'  easter baskets. for someone who's not a fan of easter baskets, i surely did put a lot of time into it!

KA and her basket

our precious' basket. i wanted to get a picture with her but the only time we were home, she took her nap

our precious and her easter hat

peek a boo!

i see you!

then on sunday, we had easter service at church and then afterwards, went to a friends' house for easter dinner. didn't get home until well after 10pm, so by sunday evening our jewel  was a basket case. so today, we're just chillin' around the house. reading books, playing w/ toys, and eating :)

weekend recap

some random things from the weekend and today:

1. went to my sister's family yesterday and we just hung out bbqing and had a water balloon fight. actually it's more like the kids all ganged up on my brother in law.  we ended the day w/ my man's homemade pizza and pahtbeensu (a korean dessert made w/ shaved ice, red beans, fruit, and condensed milk). yum!

source: latimes

2. my man made a comment that shocked me the other day! he had never eaten watermelon w/ a fork when he was growing up!!!! WHhhhhhhat????!  apparently, he didn't grow up w/ our indoor versus outdoor watermelon eating etiquette. (ha ha ha! can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?)... well, sort of. there was kind of an unspoken rule in the house that if we went on a picnic, we'd eat the watermelon in wedges. if we ate it at home, it was cut up in cubes and put in a bowl to eat w/ a fork.  is that odd?

this makes me think of our first year of marriage when my man stared at me aghast because i ate popcorn w/ a fork. in my defense, i only did it that one time and because i didn't want to get popcorn grease on my fingers (apparently, i prefer to save it for my arteries).

3. speaking of watermelon, i've been devouring this sweet piece of heaven! in the last 5 days, i've averaged about 1 watermelon every 2 days.  in fact i'm sitting w/ a "bowl" as i write. you can't really tell from the picture, but this is a large salad bowl (it fit about 4/5 of the watermelon).  this is for me:

this is for the rest of my family (this container has the remaining 1/5):

4. today's morning was quite productive - can't say the same about the rest of the day though.

after dropping off my man and our jewel, i met up w/ a friend for a walk, made dinner in a crockpot, made cookies for our jewel's end of the year class picnic, did the dishes, and managed to squeeze in a last minute shower before running to pick up the kids at carpool. having said that, the sad results of the productive morning put a damper on my smile.... jewel didn't like the dinner or the cookies :(

weekend recap

saturday was marvelous! we did nothing!!!! i LOVED it! it was probably the first day in a LONG time that i didn't drive anywhere the entire day. we just did some school in the morning, then cleaned, cooked, and went for a nice little walk. 

sunday was rather busy... sundays seem to be busy for us generally  and i don't like that. it used to be a day of family and rest and now it's a day of running around. this sunday after church, i ran to the grocery store to buy some stuff for small group. ran home, ate lunch, then ran out the door to catch a music show and then zipped to small group. 

fortunately unfortunately, my man was sick yesterday so he spent the day in bed. it was actually nice. we didn't have to all get up early and go. we just lounged around the house, at least until it was time to leave for art class. 

weekend in the city

i am exhausted! any time i go into the city; i need time to recuperate but this time i was the one who drove into the city; that just took my fatigue to the next level!!! so two days later, i'm in bed at 11am really wishing i could just stay here all day!

saturday:
AM - went to a HUGE used book sale not too far from us. honestly, i've never seen one this big - esp one sponsored by a library. it was in an amory, spanning 2 buildings.  they even charged you $20/head if you wanted to come early! i was able to get a few books for our jewel.  but then we couldn't linger too long because we were off to the city to see an opera.

PM - once a year the new york city opera does a family opera. this year it was to the book "where the wild things are". by maurice sendak. honestly, it was weird. it was almost like a modern interpretation type of thing w/ opera in it. but regardless, our jewel liked it. we met up w/ 2 other families in the city to watch the show so afterwards, we got some cookies from levain bakery. the $4 cookies that everyone seems to love. as i recall it was part of our trip last year when we came in the city for the opera.  this year, i couldn't take more than a bite before i felt sick from the sweetness. it really is that sweet.  then afterwards, we let the kids run around central park and then off we went to have a casual dinner at whole foods. we picked that place b/c 1. it was close, 2. it wouldn't be a big deal to take 6 young kids there and eat in their cafe area, and 3. now this is the main reason we went - b/c one of the adults in our group had never been inside a whole foods. can you imagine?!!  all in all, the trip was fun, we enjoyed the company, and i was wiped out by the time we turned the door knob of our house to enter at 10pm. 

also, one thing that i love about the city is the street performers everywhere! there was a college student that was trying to get into cirque du soleil so she just set up two poles and did a lot of hand balancing acts.  she was kind enough to let our jewel pop up on it and get her snazzy picture taken.

sunday: 

we had church and then afterwards we had small group. we didn't get home until almost 10pm - AGAIN.

so here i am on monday morning, really really exhausted! but it's such a nice day  (and it is 11am) i'm going to get up and take our jewel to dunkin donuts for a monday morning/ afternoon  treat!

spring break recap

it's always nice to go back home. we got to see lots of friends and spend good time with family.  we went down for my dad's birthday and i think he was really appreciative that we came down even though my parents kept saying not to trouble ourselves.  unfortunately the gift that the kids got together and bought for him did not arrive in time. they laughed when my sister pulled out her droid and said, "here's a picture of your gift that you will be getting later next week."

we always lament that we can't see everyone we wish to see, but we're so grateful that we have friends that want to see us when we are back. it makes us feel grateful for the community we have back home. it also makes me miss what we had while there. it's so easy to take it for granted until it's gone. 

along the same lines our jewel got to see some of her friends and it revived her soul. i could see the pure joy on her face and it's made me sad that we've pulled her away from those friendships.  esp since she hasn't found those same kindred spirits up here. 

this trip, especially more so than the other trips in the past, has made me wish we could go back.

soccer fun

we went to see princeton vs. harvard in a men's soccer game w/ another family and the kiddies had such a blast.



their favorite part was being able to run out of the field after the game was over:

cool weather doesn't scare me

we've gotten to know a really cool couple in this part of town and they're quite the adventurous family. we're not so much but i guess it can be contagious... sunday after church, we hit the beach. barely going up to 60 degrees, wind blowing sand into your eyes, really high waves didn't seem to hold us back. was really pretty cool to see so many wind surfers... and the kids just had a blast. i don't know how they manage to ignore the cold, but they did.

we spent the day there, then wrapped up w/ dinner at a local restaurant, hangin' out at the dock, and enjoying the sunset over the new york skyline.

i guess it's nice to have someone who'll drag you out of your comfort zone sometimes. huh?

(on our way there, my man looks over to me and says - didn't bring the camera, did we?)... so i'm going to rely on our friends to pass along the digital memory.

chestnuts NOT roasting on an open fire

we went chestnut picking today. unfortunately, i learned after the fact that chestnuts aren't ripe until the end of autumn, not the beginning... so we ended up with lots of unripe chestnuts.. but the experience was still fun.

i was in for quite a surprise as i didn't expect this when i went:



aren't they pretty? but oh so prickly! i did not come prepared! i had measly work gloves but they were nothing to guard again these thorns. how the squirrels can penetrate these is beyond me!

but we persisted against the splinters and an hour later had a bag of these beauties.


we came home and roasted some. as i suspected, they're not ripe yet, but that's ok. they're still good. we roasted them by slitting a cross on the side and then putting them in an iron skillet with some butter until the butter melted. then they went into the oven at 475 for 5 minutes until they browned up and the cross split open, making them easier to get into.


but they do make a pretty centerpiece, don't they?

weekends are for running around

we took our 2nd trip down south in a month. we got in friday evening and then saturday morning i got up at 4am so that i could 15 miles before heading down to the lake to see the in-laws. my tiredness started friday morning at 4am when i got up to meet a friend to run at 5. we did 8 1/2 miles but i'm such NOT a morning person that getting up at that hour really knocks some serious energy out of me.

anyways, back to the weekend, saturday we got to spend the day at the lake w/ some family and friends. i was tired so it was nice to have others who wanted to go into the water w/ our jewel. it was such a joy to see her have such a splashin' good time while i just sat on a beach chair and chatted it up with some friends.

our day ended at midnight when we rolled into the driveway and couldn't wait to crash into bed. we got to go to our "home" church on sunday and have dinner w/ family before we headed back north. so tired, but so worth the time spent w/ loved ones.

except one thing - 4am is becoming an unwelcome friend that i wish i could see less frequently.

I stole the city out of the suburban girl. who me?

couldn't be. then who?

we spent the day in the city and on the way in, i commented on my man that i needed a week (at least) to psyche myself up for it and spend at least the day before in complete silence just prepping for it. but yesterday, i spent the day at my sisters' and at a very very busy and LOUD children's museum. needless to say, i came home w/ a headache and not at all emotionally ready to spend the following day in the city... i digress.

so, as i was saying, we were on our way into the city and in the few moments i had before citylife hit me in the face, i was bracing myself for what was to come - the loud noise, the pollution, the taxis, the aggressive driving, and all those people that cut me off as we're walking.

but i was so pleasantly surprised today. it was nice. i enjoyed it... all of it.. the loud noise, the smells, the sights, and even the people. the whole package was so enjoyable that for a mightly split second, i even entertained the idea of living in such city. yikes! never thought that would cross my mind!

we started the day by seeing an early screening of nanny mcphee returns. then we met up w/ my sister and her family at the little engine playground. we had lunch there and surprised my sister (her birthday is coming up) w/ cupcakes from a local bakery that we wanted to try. it had a little splash playground area so the kids got crazy wet. fortunately it was a good day for it. not too humid but sunny and heat in the sun but breeze in the shade. then we headed over to a french restaurant for dinner. i didn't take my camera with me as they strictly prohibited cameras or any recording devices in the theater but in hind sight, i should have just brought it. fortunately, my sister is the picture taker in the family so we got pics of the day through her. what would i do without those camera lovers in my life??

i have to admit that while we were at the playground (which happened to be by the weter), i kept seeing runners pass by me and i really wanted to go run - even though i had gone this morning.

looking forward to monday

ever have one of those full weekends when you can't wait for monday to be able to relax? ours was one this past weekend. we went down south friday evening, saturday, i got up at 4am, met up w/ friends and ran 13 miles, then drove two hours south to spend the day at the lake w/ some family and friends. got home around 10pm. sunday, went to church, lunch w/ family and the headed back home. rolled home with eyes semi open at 10pm and i was out like a light by 11.

in-between all that driving was some great goodness of laughter, eating, and what i seem to do very well - talk :) interestingly enough, my man said that when i'm tired i seem to talk even more... needless to say, i did a WHOLE lot of talking (probably not a lot thinking - which can be a deadly combination).

and of course, i forgot my camera so there are no pics... but i think you probably already expect that from me now.

crazy weekends

do you ever have a day where if it could be put into a movie, you know what song would go along with it?

well, here is what our weekend was like:

ok, got the link? have you turned up your volume?
now, while you're listening to it, here's the recap of our weekend:

saturday:
7:30AM my man had a test
9:30AM our jewel had swim lessons
2:00PM i had a bridal shower (an hour away)
2:00PM our jewel had a birthday party
6:00PM church service

sunday:
7:00AM RAN 6 miles
8:00AM circuit workout
10:30AM sunday school
1:00PM birthday party #1
4:30PM birthday party #2 (an hour away)
7:30PM monte carlo night gala
12:00AM lights out!!

whew!