Rose Bowl Parade Float Decorating

Though the weather wasn't so great, we ventured out to Pasadena with my junior high friend Sarah and viewed the mad float decorating. Sophie's Mommy & Me teacher had encouraged the class to go to the event and the adults ended up enjoying it more; Sophie actually slept for the most part. It was awesome seeing the decorating up close and being educated on all the "green"ness of everything.

New York gal Sarah with the 9/11 memorial float

We're still trying to figure out what the brown fuzzy bear with the green hat is made out of.

A salad time machine of sorts

For my dad :)

An "Orange" Christmas

We left Friday morning for Orange, CA to spend the Christmas weekend at Mike's house. We got to meet Minji's sister, Sarah, during lunch, and played board games with my cousins and friends while the kids took naps. It has been ages since Trung and I have played any games, so it was lots of fun! Then the girls got to make a gingerbread village; they mainly ate the candy though. We then went to Star BBQ for all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque with my cousins...good stuff!

The kids opening their first Christmas presents

All ready to go biking!

The girls with Uncle Mike and Aunt Minji

Ly Family Christmas 2010

Mike got to open his first present too!

All Lydia wants for Christmas is her Daddy

BILs

Gingerbread fun!

My cousin Christine with the girls just before bedtime

Saturday we went to my Aunt Monica's house for Christmas lunch. My cousins' kids and our kids had a blast opening presents while the adults exchanged all sorts of gift cards. After lunch, Christine and I went to watch "The Fighter", which was a feel good movie. Did you know Conan O'Brien's sister was in it? I ate a quick dinner when I got back to Mike's place and then watched
"Robin Hood" with Trung after the kids went to sleep.

Gift unwrapping bonanza

My contributions to lunch

The girls sitting on their new pillow pals and watching "Toy Story 3"

Everyone having popcorn made fresh from the new popcorn maker

Sunday morning we got dim sum and shaved snow. Then we put the kids to sleep and left Mike in charge so that Trung and I could watch "Tron". Needless to say, we watched tons of movies this weekend.

There's just something about Sophie

The snow-capped mountain view to Rowland Heights

Mango Madness Shaved Snow

The Grove

Sophie's Mommy and Me class had scheduled some events for the Wednesdays that we don't have class; today's meet-up was supposed to be at The Grove. With the crazy rain the last few days, I figured most people wouldn't show, but we did run into Teacher Nancy and got some great deals on some clothes. The Grove was nicely decorated with a enormous Christmas tree and a gigantic gingerbread house housing Santa. The kids really enjoyed the dancing fountains and clapped after each "dance".

Kind of like the fountain at Bellagio

So festive

Santa's house

Westfield Kids

We got to attend the kid's program at the mall for the first time today. The program is at 10:30 and Lydia gets out of school at 11:15, so we usually never get to go. Even though the musician couldn't keep Lydia's attention the entire time, I won a $15 giftcard to The Children's Place during the raffle, so that was nice. :)

Dancing with Wendee's Music at Westfield Culver City

Lydia getting her feel of the hippo hand puppet

I swear, the girls have the biggest feet!

My sweet girls

Tangled

After spending the most part of our weekend at home, the girls and I finally got out to watch the Disney movie Tangled. We arrived early and got good seats. Lydia didn't like how loud the movie got at times, but all was going well until the theater had a power outage. For a few minutes, I was debating whether to stay and see if the movie came back on or leave and get a refund. Well, we left and stood in line for the refund for awhile when we were informed that the movie was back on. Rather than wait in line even longer and have to drag the kids out to the theater again, I decided to finish the movie and I'm glad we did because it really was cute.

The kids seemed to enjoy the arcade more than the movie

Self-serve drinks...new to me!

Sophie watching Santa four stories below

Lazy, Rainy Weekend

Though it was a rainy weekend and we kept indoors most of the time, we had some exciting things happen. First, Lydia had her first crush on our waiter John at the burger joint, The Counter. She kept asking for him and even said, "I love John"; it was amusing watching her all giddy. Then even bigger news later that day (more like, early the next morning)...my brother Mike got engaged! I wasn't sure if this day would ever happen, but it did and we are all very happy for him. Congrats, Mike and Minji!

John and Lydia

Mike and Minji

Santa Sophie

Teacher Nancy at Sophie's Mommy & Me class dressed up as Santa today...it was a hoot! The kids got to sit on "her" lap and get a wrapped present/book from another classmate. Then we made Santa hats and went caroling through the other classes in session; the students didn't seem to mind the adorable interruptions. After a potluck lunch and naptime at home, we hit the library for a marionettes show. I personally find the puppets kind of freaky, but the kids found them amusing for the most part, unless they got too close.

Adia and Sophie with Santa Nancy

Santa Sophie

Lydia petting the horse marionette

And the most famous of them all

Slow Saturday

Saturday was an easy-going kind of day. We left the house late to meet Christine and Elyse at Lakeshore Learning Center to do the free arts and crafts, but mainly to transfer a carseat over to them since she would be watching the kids later on that night during Trung's company Christmas party. After lunch, we went shopping for biking essentials like biker shorts and a helmet because Trung plans to bike to work now that his company has moved to Santa Monica.

After a quick nap, Trung and I got ready for the party and dropped the girls off at Marina Del Rey, where they watched the boat parade with Christine. The party was held at La Cicada, a very nice banquet hall, in downtown LA. Traffic was horrible; apparently it is ALWAYS bad in LA. We each had a drink and some appetizers, but saved room for the buffet and desserts. We tried our hand at Black Jack, but didn't do so well, so we saved our tokens for raffle tickets to win a camera instead. The time passed very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to pick up the kids; we still had a nice time and a little break from the kids.

Watching Santa #3 drive by

Making gingerbread men at Lakeshore

The girls were so wired and very happy to see us when we picked them up at Christine's house after the party.

New Song's Christmas Party

My friend informed me of a community Christmas party; we didn't know what it was for, but we still went...anything to get the kids out of the apartment. The party, we found out later, was sponsored by a church called New Song and the juggling act was very entertaining. Free food, entertainment, prizes, and fun...definitely a good night! :)

Second Santa picture

I volunteered to assist the entertainer...here I am trying to catch balls in a tiny goldfish net.

Santa's Sleigh

Santa made a grand entrance into our community with police sirens and a lit sleigh. The girls were very excited this year to see Santa and when asked what they wanted for Christmas, Lydia responded "croutons" and Sophie said "chocolate milk". We had to wait in line for a little while, but the candy cane that Santa gave made it all worthwhile.

Waving at Santa Claus

Passing the time in line

Santa's sweeties

Kidspace Museum Again!

The girls had such a wonderful time at the Kidspace Museum last month that we decided to go back again. This time we went to the bikes first because the girls couldn't get enough of it, plus it gets dark earlier. The girls revisited the same activities and even discovered some new ones, like the ant tunnel. Afterwards, we went back to La Grande Orange Station for a surf and turf dinner (fish and prime rib); it was still good, but not as good as I remembered it. Hopefully we can go back to the museum even though I will have less motivation now that Trung's office will be closer to home.

Tandem bikes

Ant hill

We each got a complimentary cookie when we left the restaurant so Trung washed the kids' dirty hands in the fountain. Shhh, don't tell!

Mike in Santa Monica

Mike didn't have any plans for Saturday, so he came to visit us. We started off with a playdate at a park in Beverly Hills with my friend Annie and her two daughters. Then the girls took naps while Mike and Trung watched "The Warrior's Way". We had dinner at a delightful restaurant/fish store called Santa Monica Seafood and ended the night walking around the Third Street Promenade.

Trung worked doubly hard pushing the older girls. The changing colors of the leaves were gorgeous!

The yummy seafood tower

Sophie and Mike at Santa Monica Place

At the Playa Vista Mom's Christmas party Saturday afternoon