birthday-christmas eve & morning

thanks so much to those who gave birthday greetings!

24, my number ;)

my birthday was spent last minute christmas shopping, gift preparing, watched football, christmas movies, ate tons & stayed home with my family...

binh surprised me with an organic blueberry blue velvet cake!!! so so good.

my mom's cooking. my favorite!

after dinner, we got ready for midnight mass.

& we open our presents after.

so when belle came home, she was greeted and surprised with a kitchen waiting by the tree!

SOOO HAPPY she loves it cause binh & i have been slaving away 2 days before, rushing, making this for belle! it was quite the adventure.....& it deserves it's own post!

but i kinda made a mistake putting it there first cause right when belle saw the kitchen, she forgot about her other gifts. she started cooking asap!

we had to interrupt her cooking to open other gifts...

i made her a superhero cape but aris wanted to try it on! haha

we went to bed at 4am. we were so tired, so drained...but happy!

we all woke up late. & i made my favorite breakfast, that i rarely ever eat, pancakes!

christmas day... every year we usually stay home in our pjs & bum out at home, watch movies, in this case, we watched a ton of basketball.

& belle played with her new toys! the cast of toy story 3 escaping from sunny side daycare.

i didn't know hello kitty was part of the cast??

when i was cleaning the table, i found the octopus character "hiding" with the ornaments.

i love christmas. really is the best time of the year! for so many reasons. belle gets so into the christmas spirit...even knowing a bit about it, telling me that it's Jesus' birthday. her favorite holiday song is coincidentally, "jingle bells!" ....& this is the only time i ever buy her toys. so she is one happy little lady. i hope every one had a blessed & happy christmas!!

"i don't want santa anymore, i want art"

when belle starts to act up i threaten her with: "stop it or santa's not coming for christmas"

it works! (i imagine it would with most kids).

the other day i told her in the morning she could do a craft. she got all giddy & got her stuff ready. but before she started...she was getting cranky & whiny.

& she knew exactly what i was gonna say,"stop it or...."

before i finished, she said, "i don't want santa anymore!"

"then what do you want?"

"i want art"

:)

that's like the sweetest thing i've ever heard!! that this girl would prefer art over santa...

she made this with binh.

i went to the gym, while binh babysat. & they crafted the whole time.

binh said she only asked about me once.

they made that tree handprint & a few more paintings. i forgot to take pics of the others since they weren't hung.

on monday we spent the whole afternoon making christmas cards. & she says we're not finished. every time aris called, she'd yell, "DAD!! i make you a christmas card!!"

it was suppose to be a surprise!

and if she picks up a pen, marker, or whatever....i know exactly what she's gonna draw first, smiley faces.

smiley faces of all kinds!!....just a few from her notebook.

she never says why she draws smilies. she just does!

i need to take more pics of her little creations. it makes me so happy.

so bribing her with santa doesn't work anymore. only lollipops & art!

she's so mini me. except, you can't bribe me with a lollipop.

long eventful day

saturday morning was binh's graduation!!
congrats nins!!

her parents are so happy! more happier than binh. haha! i was glad to have been there. since i know binh's been itchin' to finish. cheers to the beginning of binh's new life! whoot!! ;)

after her graduation, we went and got ready for a christmas party with family & friends...

i love this! haha

belle got a cash register play set! she always pretends to be a cashier at home, so she was real excited when she got the "real thing."

(when she showed it off to binh & krystal, krystal thought it was a telephone. she thought the "credit card" was a calling card. haha!)

this was the insane part....when kit (it's kate, but i like to call her kit) won the 2nd prize of the raffle!....$3k!!

she said she would share if she won, so every time they would call out a number, binh, belle, & i held hands & say stuff like, "please jesus please!!" & she did!!! so insane & happy for her! congrats kit!!! can't wait for friday. wink wink!

we're all excited for friday cause kit's taking the girls out to dinner. hahaha!

more random

"what is going on here???"

belle: my bears are having a picnic

"we eating shrimp n broccoli"

funny thing is, those aren't her bears. haha. the one on the left is leila's. don't know how we ended up wih it! and the one on the right is Mia's. yeah, the dog. it's her chew bear.

daily dose of hot chocolate. she likes hers with marshmallows.

walked into the living room & found belle laying on my exercise mat...attempting sit ups while watching frosty the snowman. HAHA!

i figure if i post a few pics at a time, i'll be able to post more. & so i don't forget about the pics. cause i always forget!! anyway, have a good weekend...

i'm only starting christmas shopping today. yikes!!

3 things

1. i FINALLY made a tree skirt.the past few Christmases my mom's been complaining about not having a tree skirt. i always say i'd make one...but i guess i was never interested cause i was never inspired to make one. i'd always say, "the bottom of the tree will get covered with presents anyway"

but then i saw a pic of a ruffled tree skirt on pinterest. & i was inspired!

didn't need to buy anything, just used an old tablecloth to make a circle and used left over muslin to make tons of ruffles & sewed it on. but let me tell you, it's not neat at all. it looks pretty from afar. but upclose, there are no hems or anything! the beauty of ruffles though, it's easy to cover anything ugly! AND, my mom's happy!

2. belle gets her own ornament every year. either she receives it as a gift, makes it, or picks it at the store. this year, we bought it. our last trip to wal mart, i told her to choose. she picked this....

it came in a pack.

when it comes to christmas, i'm more on the traditional side. i would much rather have her pick out a traditional ornament....but she chose that "diva" pack. haha.

i couldn't refuse because it's so her. it describes her at this stage.

the dress, the bag, all the pink! & i call her a diva all the time.

that's her 2011 ornament. diva!

3. last weekend belle & i went to my friend, Stephanie's son's 1st birthday....

birthday boy, Sean was grabbing the mic to sing along to Happy Birthday!

he's just like his mom, a singer :)

Steph made sesame street character cake pops! all the kids went crazy and it was gone in seconds. belle loooved it. she loves everyone on sesame street, even oscar the grouch! i don't normally eat cake pops, but after belle licked off all the icing, i got a few bites and it was GOOD!! thanks again son! (i call steph, son. because when we went to school together, we thought it was funny how people talk in slang, call each other 'son').

it's a good feeling to see great friends after so long! but i'll be seeing you more son, since we each have a kid now....play dates!! hehehe

first time

this post makes me real happy. kinda makes up for belle's major tantrum she threw last night. because i wouldn't let her have a granola bar late at night....then she forced herself to cry really loud. that's not normal of her. she picked up other kids' bad habits. i don't like it. seriously, those tantrums will never win. i just kept picturing the doctor telling me when she was still an infant, "kids will never die from crying." so she cried till she fell asleep.

ugh, ANYWAY!....happy stuff....

she ROCKED her first time at the dentist. i didn't even sit near her. i was at the back holding her jacket & backpack. i felt retarded for being worried. i had no clue what they were going to even do. but they checked, cleaned, did x-rays. for the x-rays, no one could be in the same room when they'd take the picture, so i got worried again. but, she sat there with no problem. & the best part.....no cavities. YEAH!!

they gave her tokens to get rewards from their toy machine. she got a spongebob & patrick tattoo. she said she wanted it on her cheek...

well guess what, her appointment was last thursday. it's tuesday now. and that tat is still there. its fading, but it's still there. she loves it though!

(i used my phone to take these pics. i would've loved to use my camera but it's too heavy for the dentist's office)

i still can't believe that dentist trip was so easy. wow.

december??

wow december! i didn't even blog at all for november!

believe me, you didn't miss a thing. i seriously haven't picked up my camera since the week of halloween. november just flew.

for thanksgiving, we spent it at aris'. and i didn't even shop for black friday or cyber monday. shocking! i feel somewhat incomplete. haha!

but i am excited for december...for the holidays. i know there's lots to look forward to.

belle is same ol' same ol'

her nose is currently stuffy cause she just got the flu shot.

& i'm taking her to the dentist today FOR THE FIRST TIME.

yikes. i'm nervous & a little excited.

& here are a couple of pics that i found.....

krystal & christian came over for dinner. belle was very fond of christian....didn't leave him alone the whole night! poor guy.

she was laughing so hard while her & christian were playing that she knocked out right after they left. visit again soon guys. so belle can knock out easily again! hehe

& a cute treat belle & i made inspired from pinterest!
i love it! has belle's faves...apple, marshmallows, & peanut butter! (& healthy too!)

it looks gross when you start eating it though. cause the "teeth" looks rotten cause of the peanut butter.
but it's so cute before we ate it!

she loved it of course. i had a couple myself & it tastes better than i thought.

this is so appropriate for today since i'm bringing her to the dentist. Ha!