Saturday, August 29, 2009

Week of Birthdays (Day 3) The sleepover

For her friends only party, Haley chose to go to the beach, then have a sleepover. The G6 offered to have all three of her little sisters over for a sleepover, so it was just her and her friends all night. Thanks so much G6 it made her birthday that much more special for her!


The girls arrived at our house around 4pm and we left for the beach soon after. It was kind of chilly, but that didn't stop them from swimming and having a fun time!


Haley and Isabel, waiting to catch a wave.


I love this picture! The girls were standing around wading in the water with their backs turned when a big wave came!


The girls were very willing to pose for me to take pics. No complaints either!


Having a snack and trying to get warm with their towels.


Cuddling, still trying to get warm.

The car ride home.


The girls voted to play Blackjack, so Dao got out his card table and played dealer. They later told me this was their favorite part of the party.

Treats!


Haley with Isabel (I♥ this pic!).


With Livie.


With Kiana (the Bobby Jack pillow has speakers to hook up her ipod to!)

With Sarah (This doll is so dang cute!).

The girls decided to to a zombie/pajama makeover. They came downstairs and put on little skits to say how they died and became zombies (kinda spooky).

Breakfast in the AM was Dao's famous homemade waffles, bacon, eggs, homemade syrup, strawberries, and powdered sugar.
I can't tell you what a great group of girls this is. We are so happy that Haley has such sweet and fun friends!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Birthday Week (Day Two)

Our oldest daughter is now 11 (big, big, sigh). We had planned on spending the day at the lake, but out of nowhere, a big dark cloud came and it started raining =-(

I'd say she was devastated, but the truth is, our good friends the G6 had just given her and Em the Wii resort game. Needless to say, she (and the rest of the girls) were well entertained for the entire morning.

Sheree (Mom of G6) called to offer to watch her little sisters so she could have some Mommy time and we totally took her up on it!

She wanted to get her bangs trimmed, but they were booked for the day, so we went to the store, bought some "safe" and temporary hair coloring and a few other things she wanted, and then picked up the sisters to head home to color her hair.

Thanks so much Sheree!!

It's wet in the picture, but it is definitely darker. Last year her Goo-Goo Xuan (Aunty) put a few highlights in, and the dye covered them up. She totally ♥'s it! She also ♥'s lemon meringue pie, which is why she chose it for her dessert.
Each of her sisters made her a special card. (Thanks again for Sheree, for helping me get the little ones to make theirs!).

Em did bubble letters, just like the one Haley had done for her the day before. So cute how they admire and look up to those big sisters.

Happy birthday Haley! We ♥ you!!!

The Big Birthday Week (Day One)

My oldest and third born girls are exactly 5 years and one day apart. So we end up dedicating a week in August to them and their special days.

These posts are always so hard for me. My little Em is six yrs old and heading into 1st grade. For her special day, she chose to go to the beach.

Look at those sandy fingers. She is so excited to "finally" be six!

Here is her collection of white shells.


She wanted to be buried int the sand so her good friend Nana helped her. Normally not something I am to thrilled about (It is not easy getting the sand out of all of the cracks and crevices).
For dessert, she wanted the "Sheree special" (angel food cake, fresh strawberries, and ice cream).

Strawberries are one of her favorite things in the world right now. Along with Fancy Nancy, the movie the Princess Bride, her dog (Mushu), music, and her DSi.
Happy Birthday big girl!! We ♥ you!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Annual trip to the zoo for Grandma's Birthday

Every year for Grandma's birthday, we take a family trip to the zoo!


The new penguin exhibit is always packed and frankly it is nearly impossible to see a penguin! The kids decided to climb the rocks and statues instead.

We picnicked outside the food court. Auntie Robin brought Fried Chicken and brownies, Auntie Andria brought fruit, and we brought chips and drinks.
Husbands favorite treat in the world is Cotton Candy, so I bought him the big bag of blue Cotton Candy to share with the kids.


I didn't think about the fact that eating this....

Would make you look like this!

Yep, blue teeth! And, we weren't even half way through the day!

The kids sure didn't seem to mind it though. Here is my nephew showing off is baby blue teeth!

At the end of the day, Grandma bought all the kids ice cream cones! The cones were huge, so all the grown-ups had to help eat them a little bit (darn!).

These three took forever to eat theirs!
Happy Birthday Grandma!! We ♥ you!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Mom and Me in Vegas

My Mom loves Las Vegas! She had been dying to go, so she invited me to come along. I hadn't been since my 21st birthday and we were way overdue for some Mother and Daughter time, so off we went!

We stayed at the MGM and it was grand indeed!

Our room.
It's crazy how close you can get to the lions at MGM. I took some video of them, but blogger hates me and won't let me upload the video! I'll try to upload it later.

Me...totally not winning.

Some of the many statues at Caesar's Palace.

There was a little temple in front of Caesar's. People could light incense for prayer's.

I ♥ the outside of NY, NY


Pretty water falls in front of the Wynn.

This statue @ Harrah's cracks me up!

The Venetian is one of my favorites.


I love all of the paintings and details there.

I ♥ JB, so it was a treat to have a Margarita @ his restaurant.

We hit the M & M store for souvenirs.

Three full days and two nights of Vegas was exhausting! On the last day, I insisted that we chill and have room service. We ordered a big pot of tea, and took our time before heading out for the day. It was lovely.

I have to say the buffet's in Vegas are amazing. By far, the best for quality and selection is at the Bellagio! We also ate at the Rio which was super yummy and had a better selection for kids.


Thanks Mom! Vegas was fun, and it was so nice to get to spend some one on one time with you!


And a big, big thanks to my hubby, who took such good care of the kids while I was gone! You're the best!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Heat Wave

We hit the triple digits here in the NorthWest. This is a rare occasion for us. Even in the summer our highs might reach the 90's, but it's not very often that it stays for very long. But, for 2 weeks in July we were sweating away with the weather in the upper 90's and even hit record highs of almost 110 degrees!! Yuk!

Here is an example of the amount of liquids that my hubby had to take to work with him to stay hydrated (Don't worry, he washed and re-filled the bottles. The red ones are a Gatorade mix.). He drank all of these and the ones that customers gave him, poor guy doesn't have air conditioning in his truck for work.

When it first started to heat up around here, we got excited and hit the beach with our good friends the G6!
Sheree's twin brother and sister joined us. They were so good with the kids. O even let them bury him in the sand. His sis, decided to help bury him with the kids.
My youngest always stays right by my side. I just ♥ her for that!
We put up our little inflatable pool for the kiddos to cool off in.

As the days got hotter, we all stayed up late until it was cool enough to sleep. During the day the kids were just wiped out from the heat and lack of sleep.

We let the girls have sister sleepovers downstairs where it was much cooler. They loved this and didn't want to go back to their rooms when the weather cooled.

It was to hot to go outside so the kids played the Wii a bunch. Pay loves to do yoga on the Wii fit!

I had a headache for a couple of days from the Guitar Hero game. The kids love to play this and it must of course be played as loud as possible! Here is Kaylin and her friend Isa rockin' out!
We spent many of our days at our friends the H5 and D5 house's. The H5 have an in ground pool and invited us over to cool off.
The D5 live on a local lake, and the kids had a blast swimming and boating while keeping cool.
The kids were grumpy and hot and miserable at home, so we would head over to their houses in the afternoon.
Thank you sooooo much H5 and D5 for letting us hang with you guys! It made all the difference in the world! (I can't believe I don't have any pictures???)
We ended up buying an air-conditioner, because it was just to miserable to deal with the heat. It has finally cooled down here for awhile, even rained today a bit.
We still have a few weeks of summer left, and I want to enjoy every minute of it before the kids have to go back to school!