Oh Mai Family: January 2010

Whew. That was a long break! We had a very busy December. Insanely busy. After Thanksgiving, I had 3 weeks before we left for our annual weeklong San Jose trip. What did I have to do in three weeks' time? A bunch of stuff! Attend the Nutcracker ballet with the kids and friends. Paparazzi Malia's Ballet Recital. Paparazzi Malia's Sing Along at school. Check out Kael's Sing Along. Room parent Malia's Holiday party. Crash Kael's Holiday party. Drag myself to the mall for gift purchasing. Drag myself back to the mall to return the purchased presents because I decided they were lame when I got home. Nag Truong into wrapping the presents. I totally forgot about our holiday cards so not only did I have a mere 2.5 weeks to make them, but I also had to take pictures of the kids for the card itself. And of course solo parent the kids for 3 days right before packing up the family bus for our trip up north. And did I tell you the kids got sick 2 days before break started? That little bug lasted for 2 weeks! Luckily it was just a cold so it was mostly snot and coughing. I mean lots of snot. Gallons of snot. I think we practically deforested a small nation with the amount of tissue we used.

In San Jose we stayed close to home as the kids were sick the entire week. The kids played with their cousins and the dogs. Meka is my niece's new 10 week old puppy and for about 2 seconds, I thought about giving in to Truong and the kids and saying yes to getting a dog. Luckily Sane Sonya slapped some sense into Stupid Sonya and I didn't utter the word that I may later regret.

Mornings were freezing. It was not unusual to wake up to 54 degrees. In the house. IN THE HOUSE! Remember: they don't like turning on the heat up there. My parents walked around wearing various layers of fleece and sweater and thermal underwear. Oh, and gloves, a scarf and knitted cap. Yes, we're still talking about "in the house." I did my best to prepare my kids for the cold weather, having made several trips to Old Navy to stock up on fleece and long sleeved shirts. However, having lived in Southern California for over 6 years, I will admit my skin has thinned quite a bit. Add on to the fact that when we left here just a week before Christmas, it was somewhere in the 70's.... my skin is so thin, it's see-through. So did I freeze my ass off in Northern California? Why, yes, I sure did. But you do get used to it. I finally broke down and cranked on the heat to 62 degrees Christmas morning. That's not totally unreasonable. In fact, it's lower than what I set the heat at home (64 degrees). I figure it's just enough to take the edge off the chill. However, when you're wearing layer upon layer of clothing, it got pretty hot. Which is kind of funny to say since up until then I had been dreaming of using the heater. I eventually turned it off because everyone started sweating. Ha! What an oxymoron: sweating in a 64 degree house.

Anyway, pictures are few since we mostly stuck around the house.

Malia and Meka.

"What do you mean, I have to go to bed?!"

We literally just arrived in San Jose and were in the middle of unpacking so the kids could go to bed. As you can see, that directive went over well.

Meka is so cute! She would play and play and play for about 30 minutes and then crash hard. Hard like I could pick her up and sling her around and she'd still be asleep. I wish the baby slept like that...

Taede hanging out with Cousin Amelie.

Decorating gingerbread houses. I used a hot glue gun to hold the house together. Interestingly while my sister had 2 glue guns, she didn't have any glue sticks. So we used various tools to melt the little stub of glue that was leftover, stuck in the gun.

As you can see, we ran out of glue stub.

But managed to eke enough to get the roof semi-secured for a couple of happy kids.

Getting anxious...

My niece Jackie. The torturer of dogs. Mathias is wearing a Santa Hat with attached beard. It was very cute. Unfortunately for the other dogs, she had one for each of them.

Taede. And yes, that's a bruise on his cheek. He got it on the first or second morning we were there. Fell while walking around with a water bottle. I swear it was because he had on so many layers that his center of gravity was all screwed up.

The family picture - minus a few people fooling around with all the cameras trying to get all of them on self timers. Every year we have a color theme. Last year was red. This year was white with the Santa hat. I left our hats at home but luckily my sister had plenty. Do I think it's a little scary that she had FIVE extra hats? Sure but I'm not complaining. At one point we almost went with my 7 year old niece Amelie's idea of everyone wearing... green pants. GREEN PANTS!! Where the heck am I supposed to get green pants for adults?! Obviously I was not consulted and thankfully that idea was axed.

My four nephews, ranging in ages 14 to 19. Do you know how hard it was to buy gifts for tweens?! I hate doing the gift card route so I try to find funky, fun stuff. This year I got them all wool hats because they go skiing a lot.

Side view. Luckily, they all loved the hats. Jackie (my 20 year old niece) wanted one too but she got a special gift from us. Mathias had a hospital stay recently and she racked up a considerable bill. Her hours as a swim instructor was drastically reduced so she really needed money. So we gave her $50. In nickels. Man, that was a heavy present. My sister also gave her money: bills all taped together in a single line, trapped inside a puzzle box. We don't believe in easy money.

One of the first presents Malia opened was the pink gown. So of course we had to put everything on: dress, shoes, tiara, purse, necklace, earrings, gloves, rings. I mean everything. And then she opened Linda's gift of a Cinderella gown. Oh boy, was she in a quandary. Too bad she couldn't wear both gowns at the same time.

And so, that was our Christmas. I hope everyone had a great one.

Happy New Year!