T'was the day after Christmas....

We made it over the Christmas weekend and it was a time to remember.

Let me explain....

Chris and I started out this weekend not nearly as chaotic as the past few years eventhough we both waited til the last minute to shop. We planned our shopping trips out pretty well considering we're out one car and towing 2 kids.

We split up our shopping list in thirds and he got the 'difficult' 1/3 since they are mostly his family members anyway. The 2/3 I shopped for in about 2 days... make that evenings. Stores stay open later during the holidays just for consumers like us to spend our hard earned money and commercialize Christmas even more.

Chris and I had a lengthy conversation about that on the way home from Manteca Saturday night. Whatever happened to the spirit of Christmas. Whatever happened to the religious side of it. Now it's about retail. Do most kids even know that it has something to do with Jesus? To be honest, I didn't even know that until the 9th grade. (moved to the US in the 7th grade)

Looking back to the time before my parents and I moved to the US from Thailand, we never celebrated Christmas. We're buddhists. We lived in a land where New Years were more important because it signifies years past and another year of prosperity and newness to come. Most Asian cultures make a big deal of New Years than any other holidays. i.e. Chinese New Year for example.

Anyway.... back to our family...

Reese decided he wanted to stay up for Santa to make sure that he brought him his Heelies he wanted. He didn't make it that far when he fell asleep.

We made sure it was the very last thing he opened. He put them on right away and headed outside. Too bad he doesn't quite know how to 'ride' them yet.

Other than those, he got plenty of toys and things to keep his mind occupied for the next 3 months or so. Thank goodness I asked for him to get a winter coat for school. I'm going to plaster his name all over it and chain it to his waist so he doesn't lose it at school.

Baby girl got a ton of clothes, toys, and an airplane. No, I'm not kidding, she got a ride-along airplane. Too bad she can't sit up or stand up yet. She'd really enjoy the thing. Maybe in a few months she'll realize that it's fun.

She also got a few other random toys and things to keep her occupied for a while. There's a doll that she got that's really sensitive to the touch. Every time she touches it, it speaks or sings. She squeezes it a lot, and it says 'hug me!' over and over. Chris finally said 'what do you think she's doing??' lol.

Bailey also got her 2 front teeth for Christmas. They cut through her gums on Christmas eve. Nevertheless... it was unbarable to be with her the last few days. Thank God for big brother who can make her laugh at the drop of a hat. I honestly don't remember Reese's teething experience to be this bad. It probably was, I just blocked it out of my mind.

Anyway.... I am sitting at work so I guess I should get some work done today.

One tired mom - retired

I can't believe that I shopped til I dropped last night. Literally.

Chris stayed home with the kids so I can do my shopping marathon last night and maybe again tonight. It was insane. I got 80% of my list bought and now I have to wrap.

Reese got his heelies from Santa. Hopefully he likes them. Crossing my fingers.

Today I have to hit one more store to get gift baskets for friends who I don't know what to buy for. Gotta love random baskets of stuff. I love receiving those too.

I got home at around 11pm last night and Bailey was still awake. Thanks babe! At least she slept really good through the night.

What rejected color crayon are you?

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Bailey is 6 months old today!!

Our little baby girl turned 6 months old today.

I can't believe it.

She's teething now too... which is a horrible experience for a little one to go through. Good thing is only about a weeks worth of ordeal for them. I can see her little teeth poking through. Thank God for Oragel and Tylenol.

Lists...

I just realized that my life is dictated by lists...

List of things to do at home... vacuum (every other day now that the baby is crawling), dishes, laundry (never ending project it seems), clean the bathrooms - didn't I JUST clean the bathrooms? That's what I get for living with boys.

Shopping list (Christmas) - What day is it today? Geez.... I'm cutting it close!

Shopping list (grocery store) - No matter how complete my grocery list is... I'm bound to forget ONE thing or two.

The 8-5 t0 do list at work... this is what keeps me employed...

There's a notebook that I keep at work of my week to week 'stuff' there. Each week gets 2 pages, I write down things I didn't finish from last week that still need done with check boxes on the left of it. I write phone conversations and messages on the lines following the to do list. Any post-it notes from co-workers go in there so they don't clutter up my space. Things get put in piles by priority on my desk so I get to them accordingly. When you look at my work space, it doesn't seem like I'm too terribly busy because it's never a mess of stuff everywhere and I'm never stressed out. Only if people knew what the heck I have going on in my little book. I guess you can call it a diary but I don't write in it after the fact.

I don't have an in-box because I don't think it serves me a purpose in life. Anything that comes 'in' needs attention obviously so I get to it. If I can't do it right that minute, it will be done in a little while.

I don't do the same job I did for 5 and a half years before I left on maternity leave. Well, I'm only supposed to do it once a week. And that's payroll day. But it's worked out that I'm doing what ever I can to help out the front side of the office and still doing my new job efficiently.

I love it, I really do.

That only means that I am the only person in the office who can do project admin., payroll, a/p, and general admin stuff up front. Not to mention I'm getting to do estimating too, which isn't all that difficult. I just have to keep doing it so I can get to know vendors and their prices and learn how to negotiate. I have a feeling that my counterpart likes to feel more important than she really is and not giving me all the information I need to do my job. That's ok, I'm smart enough to know what she's hiding. You can't keep things under wraps for long with me sitting next to you... even if your monitor is faced away from me.

And then there's the list of personal goals.

List of places Chris and I will eventually visit in our lifetime together.

List of things we want our kids to acheive at certain ages.

List of things to do before I crawl into bed tonight.......

It's year two thousand what?

Ok so I have no idea where this year flew off to.

Last year I wrote a year end wrap up of events and sent it out to friends and family before Jan. 1. and it seems like I JUST DID THAT! Now it's time to write another one? I don't even remember what happened yesterday!

I didn't keep a very good calendar of events this year so I will just omit the letter. We did send out a family photo card. That's pretty good, right?

It's December 13 and I have one gift so far. Not good. I guess it's shopping marathon coming up this week and next. It's ok, it's not like I've never done that before.

We do have to get a tree sometime this week though, given that I'm throwing a little party this weekend. Oh yeah, how about some cleaning too! That might be good huh? I really want to decorate so it'll be good.

Little B is almost 6 months old. She has her check up appointment this Friday... shots and all. She's eating a lot and sleeping longer every night. I can't wait to see how much she weighs and how tall she is now.

Why...

Why do baby clothes come with pockets?

Why do people become assholes on the road when it starts to rain?

Why isn't my bestfriend married yet?

Why do cars breakdown at the most inopportune time?

2007 Renegades

Here's to an excellent upcoming year Renegades.

I spent Friday night pondering possibilities of marhing without my husband this year. My mind was already made up to be in the guard and my body is ready to lose the excess poundage. Chris on the other hand was still sitting on the fence tetering on whether or not he wants to put his knees through an 8th year of beating on a concrete field week after week. His pact of SopBoys fell apart last year when one found love (eventhough it didn't fall apart when Chris and I got together). Now #2 is looking to get off the fence and join the homefront because he can't stop being bitter about the past. But I do understand his point and I can relate to it.

The new staff has lots to offer us as a colorguard this year. First, the promise of always being there for us. Second, the promise of putting the best guard the Renegades has ever fielded out there.

I am proud to be a part of this year's corps.

After all that.... I am so sore!!

It's been a while

Wow.... Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas is fast approaching. It's been unreal how fast time flies.

Let me see if I can recap....

The whole month of November was pretty much a whirlwind. My mother-in-law and her house full moved into a new apartment in Santa Clara. Her house she was renting was being sold by the broker who was renting it to her. They were in a mad rush to move out by Oct 31st. We drove by there yesterday and there was still empty and the for-sale sign is still on the front yard. The yard has grown in and has random bald spots where her potted plants used to be. Now she doesn't have a garden to grow her veggies at her new place. Such as life I guess.

Since mom moved to a smaller apartment and grandma moved to Manteca... Thanksgiving was at our house this year. I think it will continue to be at our house. Maybe Christmas will be here too, who knows. I love to entertain, especially with family. They don't care that there are crumbs on the floor and judge how clean my spare bathroom needs to be.

My parents weren't the entertaining type. They are pack rats and our house didn't have space for us to walk let alone try to have people over. They didn't have friends anyway. My dad was too sick to be social and my mom was busy taking care of him. Now that she's independent and live on her own, she goes places with her friends.

I had no idea family functions can be so much fun until Chris came into my life. Until a couple of years ago the holidays include all of about 3 people maybe 4. My parents and Reese. And now that I'm married into his family, there are so many people to think about. I love it.

All and all Thanksgiving at our house turned out to be the best we've ever had. Everyone brought something to share and all I had to make was the stuffing and the artichoke dip. Gotta have the infamous artichoke dip.

Next up....

CHRISTMAS!

Reese told me he wants to meet Santa when he comes drop off his Heelies. I told him I could take him to the mall to meet Santa. He asked me if he lives at the mall. I said nah... he just goes there to visit little kids and ask them what they want him to bring them. He said no, he can wait til Christmas eve to meet him.

Baby girl is going to be spoiled. That's all there is to it. As if she isn't spoiled already.

Speaking of baby girl... she's starting to scoot around on her belly. She does the backwards thing really well on her hands and knees. She's been doing that for the last couple of weeks or so. Getting on all 4's and rock back and forth. Pretty soon she will discover that if she moves her hands and knees forward she can go get that toy in front of her.

I guess it's about time I start my Christmas shopping this year huh? I know what I am getting people, I just have to get in the car and go to the mall. ugh. That's the worst part... Maybe I can get someone to drop me off at the mall one day and get it all done all at once. What a great idea!