O Christmas Tree

The first weekend in December we pulled out all of our Christmas stuff and spent the entire weekend decorating and playing outside in the cool, crisp, December air. It was a beautiful, sunny weekend. Perfect for doing some yard work, riding bikes, and putting decorations up outside.

Biker babes!

Such a good man. It was about 20 degrees outside, and we spent the morning doing yard work, so Dao had to spend the afternoon putting up Christmas lights.

On your marks...get set...GO!

For the first time ever, Dao and I sat back on the couch and let the girls decorate the tree, all by themselves.

They are just getting so big.

The girls are so proud of themselves for decorating the tree without any help! (The big kids did help move the ornaments around, because the little ones put 5 ornaments on one branch)

I love our school

Last month, I attended one of our school/parent meetings (like PTA). The assistant principle shared with us an idea and project that the entire school was going to undertake.
Below is part of the letter that we received last week.

"Dear Families,

This year students are participating in a school-wide service project, which includes a financial donation to Heifer International (heifer.org). In brief, Heifer International takes monetary donations and uses these funds to help people in our world struggling with poverty. The money is often used to purchase an animal, which can support a family or community. Once this animal has been raised and produces offspring the family gives at least one of the offspring to someone else in their community to "pass it on" and benefit the larger community. Heifer International is also involved in a variety of other humanitarian projects around the world.



The money that our school raises for this donation will (hopefully!) come from each individual student. Our hope is that each student will EARN (at least) one dollar to contribute to the school's collective donation. This will mean that as a school we could contribute at least $700 to serve a family/community in this world through Heifer International. Our thought is that by having each student earn the one dollar it will take on deeper meaning when it comes time to give this money away to help others in our world.



School centers and advisories have begun developing a plan for earning one dollar per student. Funds can be earned with each student doing something different or everyone in a center doing the same thing to raise funds. It's up to each center or advisory to determine the best way to earn their funds. Please take a few moments to talk to your son or daughter about their center's plan...."

So this weekend, my little Emma, spent most of Sunday creating books. Each one is different and they are all really special. My fave is the one that is called "Some people are different". She drew pictures of people that are short, tall, smart, some are girls, some are boys. Oh my! The books are too cute! Then she tells me that she has decided to sell them for $1 each for the Heifer project! She wanted to go outside and sell them, but I convinced her she could do it from inside (Where it is much warmer!) I am one proud Mama!

I love the school that my kids go to!

Turkey Hangover's & Crafty Fun

A couple weeks ago, Dao's sis, Goo Goo (Auntie) Xuan and her boyfriend, Dan, came over and brought some crafty goodies. I totally forgot the name of the clay they used, but you shape it up and bake it. The girls were so excited!

Even Ye-Ye (Grandpa) got into it. He made some fancy flowers.

Dan teaching some different techniques. :)

Some of the creations that everyone made. Please notice the lightsabers and penguin theme.

Dan and Xuan are so cute. They made these little penguins. Xuan made the big one and Dan made the little one (notice the Kanye glasses). Dan tied them together, and made them into a necklace. Thanks Goo Goo Xuan and Dan! We love you!


Turkey Day

The bird.
My Mom does the turkey every year, and it never fails to be delicious.

The BEST gravy EVER!!!

Dao does 10 lbs of potatoes every year! They are super creamy. I think Kaylin eats about 5 lbs of it during the week. She can't get enough.


Dan made this super yummy dish of brussel sprouts and apples it was so good. I have never liked brussel sprouts before, but this was so good!

Stuffing.
Straight from the bird.

Auntie Robin's Sweet Potato's. Yummy!

Dishing up.

Round one for Xuan!

Emma wanted to get dressed up so bad. We didn't eat until 5pm, and I told her she had to wait until 4pm to get dressed up. Poor thing asked every 5 minutes if it was time to get dressed. She loves to get fancied up.


After we were full and the turkey hangover was kicking in, we put on an episode of Glee. Goo-Goo Xuan, Dan, and Goo-Goo Linh had never seen an episode! Everyone cuddled up on the couch, to watch. Good times. :)

Goo-Goo B and Uncle Rob were in Europe on their honeymoon (for 3 weeks!) and were missed this year!

Turkeyshoot U11 Champs!

Last weekend was the Turkeyshoot tournament! Teams sign up from all over the area and play 3 and if you win those you play a 4th game. The winner of the 4th is the champ!

Haley is #3.

The girls were not used to the large full size field, so the other teams had an advantage. For some reason, the club that we play for has these girls playing on small fields still? Well, I'm hoping that will change, cuz it took our girls a minute to figure out how to cover the field. They did it though!



The last game was a nail biter! At 1/2 time the coaches had to do a little pep talk. It was 0-0 until about 5 minutes left in the game, when our MVP, Missy, scored a goal!


When the game was over, the little sisters were so excited, the hugged Haley until she fell over. Then it was pig pile time!


The proud papa with his girl! He never got to play soccer when he was a kid, so he was living vicariously through her!

After the game we headed straight over to the awards ceremony. The coaches got this enormous trophy, and called each of the girls up to get a medal.

The back says, "2009 Turkeyshoot champs"! Haley wore it to school the next day, she was so excited!
We celebrated at Azteca after the ceremony.

Actually, Haley went with her team mates, and the rest of us went home. The girls were done (if you know what I mean)! They were whiny and grumpy, so we didn't want to ruin Haley's fun. After we got settled at home, Dao went to meet them at Azteca. I made him take my camera, and he actually took a few pics for me! Thanks, Honey!

Congratulations, Blue Angels!

New Moon

Last night I left my house at 6:30 to go stand in line for a 12:01am showing of New Moon (the second installment of the Twilight swaga).

New Moon was not my favorite book of the series (Eclipse is my fave!), and the book really had me yearning for Edward throughout. Me, I love me some Edward Cullen, so I wasn't sure what to expect for the movie.

I have to say, after watching it, that New Moon is way better than the Twilight movie! Seriously, Chris Weitz did an A-mazing job! The vampires don't look like they have white chalk/paint on their faces, the wolves looked believable (their digital), and the flow of the movie was right on the money as far as the book goes!

I thought Kristan Stewart did a believable job portraying Bella. This movie was intense for me emotionally ("Edward....Don't gooooo!"), and Kristen did seem to grasp the hell that Bella was going through.

Of course Rpatz was not in this movie very much, but the scenes with him in it were...magical (lol). No really, I loved watching Edward and Bella together. Not too many of the awkward pauses that Twilight had, which made me very happy.

Know what else made me very happy? Taylor Lautner with his shirt off...in the rain! Yes, I know the boy is not even legal yet, but dang!

Anyway, I want to thank my peeps, Sheree, Heidi, & Tita for coming with me last night. Thanks ladies!

P.S. We went to the Cinebarre to watch it, and it is for ages 21 and over only! Hahaha....no teenagers around (only a few crazy drunk ladies)! We sat in the back row, in the middle and drank sangria's and latte's! Loved it!

Super Soccer Sunday Comes to an End...for Now.

Fall soccer has come to an end. Haley's team played their last regular season game on Sunday and one 6-2! The Blue Angel's tied for 1st place this season! Congrat's blue! They have a fun tournament coming up this weekend called the "Turkey Shoot". Three games for sure and possibly a fourth if we come out ahead in the other three!


It was so cold and windy on Sunday! We had to drive almost an hour away to the field for the game, so we were sure to bring all of our cold weather gear. The girls were still freezing, so we bought them hot cocoa to keep their hands and bellies warm.


Daddy was not dressed warm enough, so he decided to get cozy with the girls!


For some reason, I didn't get a good pic of Haley on the field, but I did get this gem of a pic! Love all the mud that the kids drag in off the field. YUK! Guess who gets to clean it all up later?


Sunday night was Daddies last outdoor game for this season. The girls were playing games while waiting for the G6 to come! They had to come late because of their kids soccer parties and games!


Daddy let Pay put on some shoes that used to be her fav and are way to small now. She kept complaining of her feet hurting and so she kept taking them off. Dev entertained her with an animated Star Wars story while she did this. Too funny!


The boys had a tough loss against a very obnoxious and physical team. They were still kind enough to take a pic for us wives and our blogs! Thanks guys! We can't wait for next season!


After the pic, the Daddies had to do some "team talk" as Emma calls it.


The kids felt that this presented the perfect opportunity for them to take advantage of the very large and very empty turf field. Silly girls were showing off their cartwheels.

Haley and Dev are total buddies these days. She has always wanted a brother, and she just adores them. She was playing soccer on the field with him, but I made them stop to pose for a pic.

Em and Nana spend all of their time giggling! They made up a new "handshake" and wanted to show me. Of course it included booty bumping! hahaha

Sisters Helping Sisters

I just love that my older daughters are always willing to help the younger ones out.


Pay was working hard in her workbook, and needed a little help. She asked me to come over, and big sis Kaylin says, "I can help you!". At first Kaylin wanted Pay to just do what she told her to do. When Pay couldn't(or wouldn't), Kaylin began to get frustrated. I had to gently remind her that Pay is only 4 yrs old and she might need to slow down a little for her. Once she did just that Pay loosened up and did just what Kaylin suggested.

It is a beautiful thing and just warms my heart to see my girls working together. How lucky little Pay is to have three big sisters to help her out. :)

(Although, most of the time she wants to be big like them, and do everything herself.)