Happy 4th Birthday, n!
Hard to believe that our sweet n is now four years old. This year we are doing small family parties for both kids, so we just celebrated with dinner at my parents’ house. Since it was the night before D’s marathon, we had pasta and carbo-loaded along with him.
My mom also made a car cake for him with very realisitc looking edible rocks. This was chocolate overload, for sure, just the way that n likes it.
One of the gifts we gave to n was a Kauzbot from Share & Do Good. He’s into robots, so this one quickly became his favorite stuffed friend. He also received a kids’ digital camera from D’s parents which became a source of contention because k always wants to take it away/play with it. Aside from the fighting, it was a good, low-key birthday.
Easter Egg Fun
My moms’ group had an Easter party for the kids on Friday.
There was a puppet show where the Easter bunny made it clear that Easter is NOT all about him.
There was an Easter egg hunt.
Winnie the Pooh tattoos.
Thank you gift from Thailand. I don’t think I have ever tried these before, but they were pretty good! The kids liked them too. 
Miniature Golf Par-Tee
On Saturday we went to a miniature golf birthday party for a boy turning 8. I hadn’t realized this, but according to our blog, the last time we played miniature golf was in 2007 (at the same course, in Anaheim). So k was just a baby and n wasn’t born yet.
The party split up into teams, but no score was kept.
The kids had fun. k had some pretty good shots, but the holes that were surrounded by “hills” frustrated her.
D pretending to fall into the water.
D playing Super Mario Kart
Birthday boy and dad
Golf ball cupcakes by birthday boy’s mom. So cute! She was inspired by Pinterest. 🙂 We also had pizza and salad for dinner.
Happy V Day
I know Valentine’s Day commercializes love, but it is still fun to celebrate. At preschool, k handed out treat bags that included these cute Hello Kitty magnets I found at Target:
I bought D a package of tube socks because he was always complaining that he didn’t have any. Am I not romantic? D brought home a potted orchid because he knows that I don’t like expensive cut bouquets. Hopefully I can keep it alive for a while.
For dinner we had heart-shaped quesadillas.
Last weekend we had plans to go to Pizzeria Mozza for our Valentine’s date. However, that did not work out, so we ended up at Roma D’Italia. The atmosphere was cozy and cute, with strung white lights, red and white checked tablecloths and a huge swordfish mounted on the wall. Definitely a nice, not too stuffy date place.
D was in the mood for shrimp, so he had the Shrimp Calabrese over linguini. There was a good number of plump shrimp, and the sauce was light and flavorful.
I ordered Eggplant Sorrentino. 
Monstrosity is the word that comes to mind when I look at this picture. It was definitely rich, and a bit too salty. Also, the pasta that it came with was too al dente. I took the leftovers home, and we split a piece of tiramisu. D was excited about being able to have a newcomer to replace “Buca di Beppo–Indianapolis” in the Italian category of his list. He’s received a lot of slack from a lot of people about that one.
Gohan Bistro
My sister is now a quarter century old. To celebrate we went to a new restaurant called Gohan Bistro (parents had a Groupon). The interior is much nicer than its strip mall location. The regular waitress was not there, so service was a little bumpy in the beginning. I think it is described as “home-style” Japanese cooking, so no funky fusion rolls here. I ordered the tuna donburi, which is out of the ordinary for me. I just felt like trying something different. 
They give you a LOT of tuna. Both D and I could not even finish it. It had a nice kick to it, added by the dollop of wasabi “salsa”.
My mom had the tempura don. I thought it was good overall (I had some of D’s tempura), but there were some unidentifiable pieces that were kind of strange. 
D had the salmon combo. The piece of salmon was kind of on the small side, but with everything else (and the miso soup), it was a good amount for lunch. 
The kids split a chicken teriyaki meal, and it was not enough for them. I thought it was interesting that it comes with macaroni salad. n is very unpredictable in his eating habits, so I never know if he is going to barely eat a few morsels or fight k for the last piece.
Just realized that I neglected to take pictures of my family. I need to work harder on that. 🙂
Happy Chinese New Year
Dinner courtesy of Pandy-X. Please don’t judge.
A Merry Christmas
Last night we went to Christmas Eve service at church. We were the only family in the “kid room” so D was able to sing as loud as he wanted.
Christmas morning. The kids woke up at 5:30 a.m., and not because they were excited about presents. In fact, when I told k that they could open up the presents in their stocking, she said, “I don’t think we have any presents in our stocking”. I guess she didn’t expect it because she doesn’t remember past Christmases. I think this is the first Christmas that k may be able to remember in the future.
That’s n changing his clothes in the background. His new stage is to change his clothes every chance he can get. He is also very particular, favoring shorts and t-shirts. Good thing we live in Southern California!
Pear french toast. Like my mom, I let the kids open up their stocking stuffers when they wake up, but we must eat breakfast before we open presents. (However, unlike my mom, I don’t wash the dishes before presents, too!)
D’s brother came over in the afternoon, and we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Merry CHRISTmas!
Thanksgiving Weekend
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend. We went to k’s preschool for our second Thanksgiving meal, ate our third Thanksgiving meal on Thursday at my parents’ house, and then had leftovers for lunch and dinner the next day. Before our big meal on Thursday, we went on a hike in Peters Canyon. The rest of the weekend we were pretty much homebodies: decorating the house for Christmas, putting together Christmas cards, watching football (D), and shopping for bargains (mostly online) (me). I’m looking forward to December/Christmas!
This is how D likes to read the newspaper.
Thankfully, it didn’t rain.
D asked if 7 locks are really necessary…
Erin, I made the pumpkin tiramisu. It turned out great! However, I accidentally used 6 oz. of coffee instead of only 2 Tablespoons…haha. I also used more ladyfingers and made it is a 9×9 pan, so it all worked out. (BTW, Sprouts is a good source for a reasonable price on ladyfingers).
So long October, Hello November
Yesterday I took k to her Halloween party at pre-school. 
The kids trick-or-treat at the adjacent office. Pre-schoolers are so funny. The teacher asked, what to do we say when we get the candy? And this boy started saying, “Trick or treat…smell my feet…” During grace, another boy said “Thank you for the food…thank you for mommies and daddies…thank you for Jesus…and thank you for cabinets.”
At night we went to the Harvest Festival at our church. 
However, the only good picture I have of the night is in front our house. D was still at work, so my mom came along to help. I think my mom has some better pictures on her camera. Halloween on a Monday is not too fun, in my opinion. Plus, there was traffic, two candy buckets, two cards to be stamped, a wand and a sword to keep track of, and I wasn’t feeling too well. When we got home, I brushed the kids’ teeth, gave out a few pieces of candy, took some Nyquil, and collapsed in my bed.
Happy Birthday Zaza!
We celebrated my mom’s birthday at Berkeley Dog in Irvine. k and n call her “Zaza” because she wanted a name other than “Grandma”. At first, we thought “Sasa” would be cute, but k started saying Zaza, and it stuck.
Sampler of fried foods
We had fun playing with the Coke Freestyle machines. D made raspberry lemonade, cherry vanilla coke and orange coke, mixing diet and regular.
I think it is funny that there is a Berkeley Dog near UCI, and that these are the flags they chose to decorate the store. I realize that they have to pay homage to Berkeley since they serve the hot dogs from Top Dog, but it just seems weird. At first, I thought maybe they had all of the UC schools, but instead they just had a select few. Also, they had a helmet signed by Aaron Rodgers. I also find it funny that there are streets right around UCI named Stanford, Berkeley, and Marquette. I think UCI has a bit of an identity crisis. I noticed this Top Dog serves asian desserts (green tea, red bean sundae, etc.) Maybe that’s the UCI touch? Actually, that comment would apply to several UC schools, so never mind.
Anyway, after dinner, the kids went home with my parents, and D and I headed out for our date night…more to come.