Cheeks to Cheeks

Belle’s birthday party is tomorrow. She will probably get a lot of gifts from friends. Aunty Elaine showed me the gift she would be getting for her bellybutton (her endearment term for Belle). We would probably need a box cutter to open up the gift she’s getting for Belle. Thank goodness she said she will not be wrapping it up.

Will post pics next week. We also have Halloween pics to show too. All that will be posted next week when I get to it. Till then, Happy Halloween!

Ariel’s Journey: A book of friendship, sisterhood and with a dash of kick-ass girl power spirit.

I have always been a fan of tween adventure books. I have an almost full collection of the Famous Five, a few series of the Secret Seven and Nancy Drew. Ariel’s Journey is just like any tween adventure story but with a little twist–a cocktail of time travel,  magical horses and life discovery.

The story started (dreadfully) slowly by elaborating on each young woman from the five main characters. As the chapters flow and to my surprise, I became more intrigue on where the story was heading. With the help of the magical Icelandic horses the five young women were given a golden opportunity to bond as sisters and became (do mind my language) kick ass fighting machines. I find my heart palpitating at the battle scene and with the good triumph over the evil, the ending of the story could not be any better. Now I am totally hooked and I can’t wait for the next story to be published.

I wrote a long post but didn’t get to save it in time. Now it’s *poof* into cyber thin air. *sigh* Anyway, long story short, I was admitted into Urgent Care on Sunday. Spent half day getting poked for blood test, gave urine sample and ended up having IV & antibiotic drips to help subside my raging fever of 103F.

What had caused it? Mastitis: breast inflammation caused by infection. For my case, it is rare since I have been successfully breastfeeding Cassie for almost 9 months.

Now I am on antibiotics and have a very sore left booby. Now I know how some of my friends felt when they had to go through mastitits.

I want to make this post an educational one but after losing the initial post, I gave up. I’m tired. My body is achy and I’m in no mood to blog.

I was reading some news and this article chance upon me: Sex Education at Kindergarten. Apparently the British (government) thinks 5 year olds are ready for a little education about the birds and bees. My daughter is turning 3 and I could not fathom the thought of having this talk in another 2 years. I was thinking 12. Wouldn’t you agree? Twelve would be an appropriate age.

I remember the school system in Malaysia, okay, I’ll have to rephrase that; the school I had attended failed miserably educating us on sex. I remember it vividly. I was 13 at that time. The school principle made an announcement over the the loud speaker, asking all the girls to file in lines and adjourn to the dining hall. We were then given a what they call “sex education” but it wasn’t about sex. We were basically told about the monthly companion and bodily changes. So much for sex education at Sekolah Sxx Ixxx. [Hmm, maybe my buddies from high school can chip in the details 'cos I could only remember bits and pieces.]

Anyway, for the British to mandate sex education at the Kindergarten, it just blew my mind away! What are your thoughts? I’m interested to know.

Yesterday while walking out to the parking lot, Vickie asked, “What should we have for lunch?” I replied, “Let’s eat something healthy!” She asked, “What’s healthy?” I said, “Um, healthy like…salad healthy?”

So, what did we end up for lunch?

BBQ Wrap and Curly Fries.

So much for eating healthy! *lol*

Guess what we had for lunch today? In-n-Out burgers. At this rate we’re going, we probably need to consider diet pills! LOL!

Belle still wears a diaper before she naps or sleeps. While changing Belle into her diaper…

Mom: Lift you butt butt.
*Belle lifted her butt so that I could scoot the diaper under her*
Mom: Down
Belle: Please. Down, please.
Mom: Down, please.
Belle: *smiling* Papa no say please.
Mom: Oh, then you will have to remind papa to say please.
Belle: Must say please.
Mom: Yes, you’re very polite.

Belle is very good with her P & Qs. She has no problem saying Thank You and simply loves to say the word Please especially when she wants something. She will stretch the word Please to Pleeeeeaaassse. *sigh* Lately her little friend Ian has been teaching the kids new words and phrases. Now she says, “Yuck” and “Dude.”

I spoke with her teacher about her bringing home new words and Tina said all the parents told her the same thing. And yea, Ian taught all the kids new words. I won’t be surprise ‘cos Ian’s dad is a teacher. Tina said Ian taught the kids to how greet her husband. Yup, you’ve guessed it right, it is, “Hey, Dude!”

I am seriously thinking about starting a business of my own but I’m stuck at “what should I do” part. Every now and then Jon will send me links of small business for sale but nothing seems to interest me. Maybe I’m just not ready to take the risk. The recent economic downturn does put a damper to the very thought of owning my business too.

It is a big step and a big risk to take. I’m happy that there friends who are successful business owners. One of them is Jennic, the co-owner of Kangarooboo. I remember the day she told me about her online store. Guess what? Kangarooboo is turning ONE year old on Oct 28th. Congrats, Jennie & Justin!

We managed to find a spot at the side of the road that is close to Guadalupe Park. We parked and walked about 5 minutes. Once we got there, we were amazed to see pumpkins, in all shapes and sizes, strewn all over the lawn. People, big and small, were busy choosing their pumpkins and taking photos. The pumpkin patches were particular favorites for everyone.

Our Belle decided this to be her favorite…

Cassie was content sitting among the pumpkins…

It was a nice but windy day. The skies were blue, the air was crisp and we actually thought Autumn had hit the Bay Area.

The pumpkins were brought in by local growers. The public could choose and pick the pumpkins and pay for it at the stall. We didn’t check the price ‘cos we didn’t need any pumpkin. We were just there to enjoy the event. There were other stalls set up. These stalls were mainly non-profit organizations; a whole lot to do with the environment. Kids were giving freebies as they go to each stall.

Here’s one of me and the girls…

Contest was held for the best scarecrow. We took some of Belle and the scarecrows but it didn’t turn out well. Nowadays it is difficult to capture the girls in the public. They get distracted by the noise and commotion. Both Jon and I would look like mad parents yelling at them to look at the camera. Here is one photo that we managed to capture when both the girls looked at the camera:

Daddy and the girls, with Cassie looking away…

Mommy and the girls, with Cassie looking elsewhere again…

There were two blown up structures for the kids to play. The organizers were smart to designate one structure for kids under the age of 4. That way the older kids would not trample onto the younger ones. We paid a buck for 5 minutes and Belle had a swell time in the structure bouncing away.

We stayed in the park for about 2 hours and managed to check out the Children’s Discovery Museum (located next to the park). After that we went to Tung Kee Noodle House, near San Jose State Uni, for a late lunch. Belle was energized by all the bouncing she had and could not sit still during lunch. We had to quickly feed the girls and finish our noodles. On the way home I gave Belle some snacks (that we got for free from the event). She was happily chomping on the snack, singing and talking, and then the car grew silent. I turn around and saw this…

She was all pooped out. Cassie had her nap before lunch, so she was quite awake…

Would we do it again next year? We might but I have to make sure I have my Claritin taken. After coming back from Pumpkin in the Park, I had a long allergy attack from the pollens and hay. It took me 3-4 days to overcome the sneezing, runny nose and itchy eyes. If it weren’t for breastfeeding, I would’ve taken Claritin right away. So, yea, poor me.

Pumpkin in the Park: Part 1

I have talked to the sister on the phone but got cut off by her ‘cos her phone battery died on her. Anyway, we were discussing about the Ireland trip. I have forward her the email correspondence I had with the Irish guide. She said the seaweed bath looks interesting.

I have googled about seaweed bath yesterday. Apparently it is a popular spa-like treatment in Ireland. Seaweed bath stimulates lymph drainage, reduce cellulite (ooo, I need that!), detoxins the body, relieves tension and achy knotty muscles and beautify skin texture. Get this, you will only get these results if you do it once a week. Haha…and you think one bath is enough, huh?

Anyway, we have an option to experience seaweed bath if we take one of the West tour. I can see my mom and aunt enjoying this spa treatment. But then again, I like the Southwest tour ‘cos it has more scenic sights. The Ring of Kerry is said to be very beautiful (when it doesn’t rain). So, Jon and I are still weighing our options.

I feel like my mind is racing from one event to another. If I’m a laptop I would probably need extra laptop memory to keep myself going. Last night Belle and I went to Nob Hill to check out birthday cakes. We flipped through the catalog book and little girl wanted almost all the cakes in that book. She wanted Princess, Dora, Spiderman, Diego cakes. I told her she could only choose one theme and thankfully, she coorperated and chose the Princess theme cake.

Now, that’s only the cake for her birthday party at the daycare center. Now, I have to figure out the cupcakes for the party at the Children’s Discovery Museum. Gosh, I better get the party bags ready too. So much to do, yet so little (free)time to execute everything.

Coming up, the Pumpkin in the Park Part 2.

I’ve mentioned previously about our day trip to San Jose for the Pumpkin in the Park event. Belle had her gymnastic class that Saturday morning. When we got back, Jon and I hurriedly fed the kids and dressed ‘em up. It was chilly in the morning, so I dressed the girls appropriately.

Missy decided to pose for us as she was wearing her new skirt and jacket…

Nowadays, the numero tres is her favorite number. She has been telling us her birthday is in 2 weeks. Okay, I’m digressing here, back to the original story. Here is another photo that made me gasp ‘cos she reminds me of ME!

I think she looks a lot like me here, except for the chin. She has her daddy’s chin. We have captured a lot of photos that day but we particularly love two of them ‘cos it made us laugh. Here’s one…

Here’s the second photo..hehe…

It is so much fun to laugh at our children’s expense. Well, we very well can’t leave Cassie out from this post. Here’s chubby Cass giving us her “I’m not sure if I want to cry or smile” smile:

Look at her round tummy. I can’t resist to tickle her chubby tummy and blow raspberry on it. One thing I found it about this girl is she is extremely ticklish.

Okay, this is the end of Part 1. Stay tune for Part 2.

Edit: Pumpkin in the Park: Part 2