Baba had to work and I still felt the same, so NJ spent a little time with Uncle Jason and family. I heard later that he said he liked going to Uncle Jason's and that he got to eat cookies. Hmm, well that'll win him over! Thank you for the last minute help, Jason and Marnie! And thanks for the forwarded photo... you didn't have to listen to him, he's three!

A very quiet new years eve...

With the exception of the on-going excessive fireworks all night.

Best chicken noodle soup

Still don't feel any better. Seems like little NJ is, though so that's good. Well, my wonderful better half made us all some chicken noodle soup. It was the best chicken noodle soup that he's made and that I've tasted. Yum. If you're ever sick, ask you know who to make you some chicken good soup. Hee, hee.

Now another little someone has the sniffles and cough. Great! Meanwhile, I had a horrible night of hardly any sleep with chills, sweating, headache and body ache. Yay. One of the few times I walked out of my room, NJ just starred at me and talked non-stop: "Hi Mama! Good morning (even though it's not- it's just the first time seeing me)! You better? You feel better? You better now? You need blood test more? You ok? You gonna eat?" Sheesh. I couldn't even process what he was saying at the time, all I could do was stare back. It's sweet for him to be concerned.

Late breakfast/brunch in Westwood after a quick blood test. Woke up with the sniffles and a cough. Great.

Breakfast & Downtown Disney

NJ helping with the eggs for breakfast. Also for breakfast, some pancakes, bacon, and sausage. Ah-goo and Ah-gim (his Uncle Perry and Auntie Karen) came over for breakfast, which was more like brunch. We all woke up late, but it made for a relaxing day.

After, we headed to Downtown Disney to walk around. NJ was glued to his favorite uncle, it was the cutest!

Ooh, parrot! Let's learn about Macaws. Never knew there was a bone in their tongue, how strange.

Of coarse, the favorite store of every boy!

Let's take a break...

For some Jamba Juice!

Let's enjoy the moment...

As we were walking, NJ stopped and seemed to want to sit down along the side. Ah-goo says, "Oh, you want to stop and enjoy the moment? Ok." So we all sit down. Almost as soon as I take this photo and put away my camera, NJ just starts walking again and we all follow. I said, "Moment enjoyed!"

Belated Christmas dinner with friends

How awesome to be sitting around at one table with some of my closest and best friends. I feel so blessed just to be sitting at home enjoying dinner to celebrate Christmas. This year has been the toughest that I've had to experience and I'm sure hubby would say the same. But here we are, alive and doing "normal" things again. We wouldn't be here without the major help of our friends, family, and most of all God. I think we may have already used up our quota of prayers, love, support, help, favors, kindness, and anything else good for a lifetime just this year alone. I'm not sure how we'll ever be able to make it up to everyone, it's an impossible job, but we have to try! We hope for better opportunities to serve others as we can. Thank you, everyone who has taken the journey with us this last year... we love you and thank God for you.

Target. His face says it all.

This one's called: Tired of leftovers.

Merry Christmas!

More presents than any three year old could possibly appreciate. Still, it made us happy that he's this loved and to see how happy he was to open every one of them. It would have been nice to make it to church, but I didn't want to rush and stress over cooking. So it was surprisingly stress free cooking and relaxing. It was really sweet to get not one, but two invitations to dinner. We regrettably declined, I'm sad to not have had the chance to spend Christmas with more loved ones. But it's best we stayed home since we didn't get to cleaning and nap time until after 4:00, which would have made it a rushed and tiring evening. So it was just the three of us. We are definitely thanking God for this time together as a family. Happy Birthday Jesus!

So cute! If only it wasn't a high of 77 today! It's a warm Christmas.

We feel ya, Dot Dot, we didn't have presents to open either. They all went to you know who! Ha, ha.

My boys racing their cars. Baba teaching NJ about how to line up the cars and how to separate the winner's bracket. Oh my.

Baba's parents came over (Ah-ma and Gong-gong) for lunch.

It's also Gong-gong's birthday, so we surprised him with some ice cream cake. Who enjoyed it the most? You guessed it... NJ!

Little Helper

Early Christmas lunch with some of NJ's favorite people!

We're all matchy-matchy with our jeans and red tops. Ha, ha, thanks for suggesting to photo, Perry!

To last the weekend I stayed home to rest, but the boys went out. NJ got to spend time with his girlfriend. I heard there was lots of hugging, kissing, breathing on each other, and chasing each other. And Gaby was even asking for him to go home with her to sleep in her bed, ha ha! Hmm... Uncle Tristan might not be so happy about that! Boys and girls sleep separately 'till married! So cute, though... at least their love for each other is mutual.

Lemon picking and food chopping...

With Cousin Cooper!

"I put it in my nose!"

Blue tape removed by tweezers. Still two pieces unaccounted for...

"Christmas lights!"

Screamed louder than I care to hear! Paired with his antsy, bouncy dance.

"My hands are all dirty, I want to wash my hands!"

He was supposed to be out helping Baba. I went outside to check it out and all I heard from NJ was him complaining about his hands being dirty. Sheesh... I asked him if he wanted to stay outside to help or come inside to wash his hands. He kept asking to wash his hands, but also insisting, "I want to help Baba!"

"Thank you for my lunch!"

I'm proud of our healthy lunch... turkey & cucumber sandwich with carrots, grapes, and cheese.

Not so proud of our hodge podge dinner... NJ had leftover pasta, Baba had leftover beef, beans, and rice, and I had cereal. Yes!

Yogurt Face

Our dinner conversation:

NJ- "I have no hair!"

Mama- "What?! Who has no hair?"

NJ- "Ah-Tso." (great grandma, my mom's mom)

Mama- "What?! No, who do we know that has no hair?"

NJ- "Mama has hair, Baba has hair, Dotty has hair..."

Mama- "No, it's Ah-goo (Uncle Perry), he has no hair on his head."

NJ- "And Ah-Gim too!" (Auntie Karen, his wife)

Baba- "What?!"

He had us rolling in our seats. Silly kid.

First Christmas Performance!

It's always been my favorite part of Christmas services... the adorable, fidgety, off-key, un-coordinated children singing and following motions that go along with it. Besides being super-cute and fun, it's a joy to see children be a part of Christmas celebration. Of coarse before NJ I'd wonder if we'd ever be one of those parents up in the front with their cameras and camcorders (I suppose people don't use camcorders much anymore, ha!). So today was extra meaningful in that way. It's a little piece of that dream come true that we wanted. There he was, standing, looking around, turning around, staring at other kids, and at us, not singing or doing any motions. But oh well, that's what's great about it!

Movie Popcorn from 50/50...

I got invited to coffee or a movie. I said coffee, not a movie. But my wonderful hubby encouraged me to go for the movie instead and enjoy myself. So I did. I wasn't even sure what we were seeing, all I cared about was getting out and spending time with a friend. We went to this great theatre nearby that plays old movies for $2. Woohoo! My kind of place! Well to my surprise I was hit hard by emotions and feelings that I have been trying to forget. At one point the flow of snot and tears were more than my thin, rough theatre napkin could handle. I couldn't turn it off, it was weird. I'm already a cryer (at almost everything) and an emotional person, but this was nuts. It brought me back to this past year and all that's happened. It was hard to watch, but awesome and hilarious all at the same time. Walking out of the theatre, my friend and I looked at each other and laughed! She apologized about this being the first theatre movie experience since having my life back. I insisted that it was highly appropriate! Even more so that she visited me most behind hubby, mom, my brother, and dad while I was sick. I know God wanted me to relive my emotions to remind me of how great is it to have life return to normal. :)

Tree Decorating

Finally! The tree has been up for the last two weeks, I think. And everyday I plan to decorate it, but it never quite happens. There's just too much to do in a day and not enough time. And everyday NJ asks me, "Why the tree not decorated?" and "Why there's no star on the top?" or "Why it's not on?" He's been waiting to decorate the tree and see it lit up. It was fun to decorate it together and see how much he enjoyed helping. I broke almost an entire box of the big ornaments, oops! My how it's changed from year to year, NJ is decorating the tree with us. Makes me so happy to enjoy these moments with him and baba.

Dinner and Lion Dance