Friday Flight

we got out of vegas before the new years eve crowd comes in. they are expecting 300,000 people alone on the strip. ariana started worrying that we wouldnt get on a flight and stuck in vegas, so bad where she couldnt sleep. we decided to buy 2 positive space tickets for me & her, luckily employees get a discount. once i told her daddy is making sure she gets on, she fell fast asleep. all of us ended up getting on the flight together afterall. ariana chewed gum for the first time, but only while we were landing. it worked - her ears didnt hurt at all.
ariana is wearing a juicy couture velour suit. i got the pants (size 6) on sale at a boutique over the summer, the jacket wasnt marked down enough. then during thanksgiving, i found the matching hoodie jacket at marshalls. its a size 10, rolled up the sleeves and for sure we will get our money's worth out of it for years. wearing a gymbo "cutie" top, its probably from the wild one line years ago and just cut off the tags now.
lately on tv, we have been watching basketball. one game after another with the nba season kicking off. out of the blue, ariana noticed and said "hey why is there so many brown & african players with only one skin-color boy?" the only thing i could think of was black people are better in sports. but i did another cop out and told her to ask kuya josh.

Winter Wonderlands

we took the monorail for the first time instead of a taxi. we heard on the news that they might go bankrupt since nobody rides it (not even the locals)... except on new years eve. $5 bucks got us from one end of the strip to ballys/paris station. crossed over to the Bellagio to see the conservatory in the day time. it was just as beautiful as last years when we went at night. ariana finally gave me a "no more picture" limit. she matched the theme wearing gymbo winter penguin shirt. i grabbed it during their half-off shirt sale and stacked a coupon too. one of our friends suggested to eat at the M buffet, great food and cheaper than the bellagios. the taxi driver mentioned it would cost approx $25 fare to go there, and another $25 back. thus the money we would be saving would cost us in cab fare. ended up going to the wynn (which we have never been too since it opened about 2-3 years ago, and ate at the buffet there. we were there well over 2 hours eating to our hearts content. it worked out great where our plan was to go the venetian right next door. it was beautifully decorated for the holidays as well. ariana was amazed as we walked thru venice following the canal (gondolas) under the painted blue skies above.

Getaway to Vegas

remember last year we went on a trip right before xmas? and never to do that again, only because i would have to get everything ready beforehand. this time we're using up our about-to-expire timeshare points after xmas, but before new years.
ariana is wearing gap roman getaway sweater. its a bit chilly leaving the bay area, and 60 in vegas. we went out to dinner, 3 italian ladies noticed ariana right away while we in line. we gave ariana the ok to greet them, where they each gave her a big hug for being so adorable. they were saying all these words about her in italian - preziosa, adorabile, bella, bambina. i'm just glad they didnt pinch her cheeks.

Spa Treatment

awwww... i want what she's having. we didnt get around to set up the orbeez foot spa yesterday, and able to put it off til now. ariana had more than enough presents to play with. little did i know that you have to let the beads sit in water for at least 4 hours (even overnight) to grow. ariana was so ready, and luckily it only took a couple of hours. she was in spa heaven.
i dont know what got into me, but i started putting away or organizing all of ariana's presents under the tree. one thing lead to another and i took the ornaments off the tree, followed by the garland & beads, up to the lights. byron came home wondering what the heck i was doing, where we usually leave the tree up til three kings january 6th. guess he wanted to enjoy looking at the beautiful tree a little bit longer. i just figured that he will be at work and josh goes back to college, leaving me to do it all by myself. at least i have my little handy helper assistant ariana.

The Day After

Merry Christmas

when ariana first woke up she went to the tree to check if santa came. 7:30 she came running into our room "come quick, come quick" like it was an emergency. we did the firemen hop of out bed, and followed her to the living room. she quickly pointed out the barbie bike she wanted.
the last present to open - the long awaited orbeez foot spa. she has been wanting this ever since she saw it on a commercial in way back in october. she told dad "commercials make you want things". this was the #1 item on her list and even noted its a NEED, not a want.

got iphone? yes we were at the at&t store at 4:45 on xmas eve right before they closed. in order to surprise josh with an iphone4, his cellphone had to be unexpectedly deactivated. he noticed his texts werent going thru. the only thing i could come up with was "dad was working on the account". plus we were going out and he doesnt need his phone, and his girlfriend was in on it too. we waited til ariana opened all her gifts and play a joke on her kuya where santa only gives him coal and a pair of underwear. he's also donning the coach hat & scarf set from us. Now that josh has the latest and greatest iPhone, I started teasing him to hand over his itouch, cellphone, camera and even gps. Is there anything else??

Twas the night before...

the boys kept ariana occupied (like watching pink panther) while i was able to wrap all her presents. this way i dont have to stay up all night. i could already hear byron "well if you didnt get her that much, you wouldnt have alot to wrap." and i thought i had it under control this year, but once i brought all the hidden stash out - i'm paying for it. our plan is to go to church 8:00 service, then to our extended family annual xmas eve party afterwards. or we go to another church earlier at 5:00, then to the party. well we never made it to church and headed straight to the party. ariana is wearing the harajuku gwen stefani line at target, even the matching shoes. we got home late and ariana fell asleep in the car. all i had to do was bring the presents out and the bike. also put the snack out for santa and the reindeers. it was too funny - i kept asking byron to take bites out of everything to stage it perfectly. ariana left santa a thank you note and asking him if he received her list. she also left a blank piece of paper for santa to write back. so i had josh type a poem copied from a santa card that we put out for him when he was a little boy.

Xmas Card

xmas cards - check. i only ordered 75 this year, meaning i have to cut 25 off the list. luckily i had my little elf nana, she said it was almost like a factory. first she stuffed the cards into the envelopes, put our return address labels, and then the postage stamps. i wrote out each address. to speed things up i write using lowercase letters... keeps the pens flow going. i used a sponge to close the envelopes, no licking from me eversince i saw the seinfield episode. ariana either put a sticker or tape on the back just to be sure. then sent josh off to the post office. who knows, some of you might receive your card tomorrow or after xmas. its ok because its a holiday card with out a specific greeting and can pass for either xmas or new years. below is a picture of all the ones from my girls clothing loops. dont worry they werent included in the 75, i had a separate card for them.

Family Holiday Feast

its my side of the family xmas get together, hosted by my niece & nephew (newlyweds). usually we celebrate the weekend before, but it was the baby shower last weekend. we have plans for xmas eve, and some family members are flying out on xmas day. out of the 7 of us siblings, only 3 families were able to join tonight - me and my other 2 sisters'. ariana is wearing a tcp plaid holiday dress i picked up at a consignment store, i have no idea what year or line. paired it with black leggings and harajuku gwen stefani shoes from target. we're in the low 40's tonight, ariana wore her gap coat (similar to princess kate middleton's).

Dear Santa,

aside from putting up the tree, ariana has been constantly asking us to make a copy of her santa list. she has been wanting to go specifically to macys to drop it in the mailbox. guess she saw this on a tv commercial. here i drive her to the mall, go upstairs to the trim-a-tree dept only to find NO mail box. ariana got teary eyed thinking we were late and the postman picked up all the letters already and delivered them to big red. she suggested we go to the other mall across the bridge, where she remembers they had a mailbox. then a sales lady told us - its on the 2nd floor across the shoe dept. i have one happy "believer". yes Ariana...there is a santa claus.

Oh Christmas Tree

better late than never - the tree is up! the original plan this year was to buy a real live one, about 5-6 feet tall noble fir. we ran out of time and xmas is days away. so we took out big ole faithfaux afterall. i just didnt feel like using it since its so wide & full to decorate. josh actually set it up (his one thing to do for mommy chore). i ended up separating all the branches. i saw this one tree on QVC where you put it together in 3 pieces, the power strip is in the pole. the tree has lights on it, and get this - it automatically fluffs out! thats my dream tree for only $300 with 5 easy payments. i told byron if i was pregnant, i would so be on the phone ordering it. we are proud owners of a power washer when i was preggo with ariana. i have a little bugger that wants to decorate the tree. first things first. i have to put the lights on, using only 6 strands vs the 10 i normally do. i even only used one spool of red ribbon garland. i gave ariana the go ahead to decorate - then she found the red beads. i even skimped on those. we finally got around to the ornaments. of course ariana kept hanging them in the lower front, where i had to get from there and put them someplace else. she doesnt want to put the star on until xmas eve. the tree came out great if i say so myself - just dont look in the back (its empty). ariana is wearing a red gymbo top from poppy love 2010 line.

Sunday Stars

ariana is fascinated by the moon. out of the blue, she spots a star and says that she sees grandaddy (byrons dad) or lolo (my dad). she will say "theres grandaddy's star". i dont know if she actually sees them or feels their spirits that they are both looking down on her. both of them passed away before she was born.
as we go down our street looking at all the lighted houses decked out for the holidays, one had a nativity scene. she points out "theres mary, joseph and baby Jesus". she knows mary & joseph are the mommy and daddy, but also remembers us saying Jesus is God's son too. byron was trying to explain it, and luckily she summed it all up "all of us are God's children, right?". one of her classmates asked "how do you know all the children are adam & eve's?" ariana said "because thats the story in the Bible and everything in it is true. God doesnt tell a lie."
today was set aside to go get a xmas tree and decorate it. well after running all week, baby shower & warriors game last game - it finally caught up to me. i was up all night coughing where byron made me take 2 doses of cough medicine. knocked me out til noon. watched some football and was only able to rinse the dishes stacked up in the sink. byron works all week, and we might end up taking out our artificial tree. its huge and i really dont feel like setting it up - spreading the branches, 10 strands of lights, and ornaments. but xmas is next sunday and time is running out. at least i got around to ordering our cards (via shutterfly). all i have to do is address the envelopes, which shouldnt take me so long since i write it cursive lowercase. i should get them by friday and postmark them on xmas eve. tomorrows task - send out cards to my loopies.

GQ Baby Shower

we are officially on winter break until jan 3rd. oh how i wish it was a no nothing day - no place to go, no thing to do. at least we got to sleep in for the most part. its my nieces & nephews (who got married this summer) baby shower. its for family, friends and co-ed. not just a girls only party. since they are having a boy - it was themed GQ gentlemen quarterly in preppy colors of blue, black and gray. the games were fun. they had little baby dolls in a frozen ice cube. the first one to thaw the baby out - wins. the guys played the one with apple juice in a bottle and raced to see who could drink it all up first. guess who won - joshua!! he's my baby that specifically instructed us "milk belongs in a bottle with a nipple", altho he drank everything else out of a sippy cup.
i didnt want to dress ariana in a poofy dress like she was going to a wedding, plus keep in mind its not even 60 degrees outside. she wore one of her crazy8 houndstooth suits, with janie&jack boots. after the party we had to do a quick change since we had tickets to a preseason warriors basketball game. they gave away free tickets on facebook.

HolidAAAAAAy

its the last day of school minus all the hustle & bustle - which was great. things were all calm on the home front of room #113, while the kinders had their polar express party and most classrooms celebrating their xmas party. all we had to do was come back before the bell rang to take things off the wall for the kids to take home. in the meantime, i was able to do starbucks this morning with my sister, boxed presents to send to florida & chicago, and a run to my creative memories rep. ariana is wearing an outfit made by loopie yvette, and i'm glad it still fits. it was also the last cheer practice before the competition in jan. each girl was given a medal.

Winter Concert

ariana is in dance afterschool. for the winter concert tonight the kids are to wear dark (black/blue) bottoms with a red or yellow top. this asymmetrical swing tunic is from pumpkin patch latest line - color my world. the sales lady suggested to wear it with the black pettiskirt. i have been shopping at pumpkin since ariana was a baby. i could buy a big girl size 3, and she could wear it for several years. unfortunately they are going to close all the stores to become online only from europe. the high school pavilion was packed. i didnt bother to take pics nor video it, the school hired pros to make the dvds. dance, colorguard and choirs performed. the kinders ended the show with "the twelve days at eastin". i had told ariana that after she performs everybody stays in the bleacher, then i will come and get her. she ended up missing me (1-1/2 hour show), and luckily her teacher was able to console her for the time being. i'll have to remember next time to sit next to the performers.
the class has practically been preparing for the holidays for the past 2 weeks. i called it the teacher's 12 days of xmas. everyday they have been learning about how other children celebrate and doing artsy projects accordingly. it all came to a close this afternoon with a little holiday snack party.

The House that Ariana Built

doing the gingerbread cookies yesterday was a cinch compared to todays project - gingerbread houses. we used graham crackers and stuck it to (via royal icing) to milk cartons, and then let the children decorate with candy. plus a sugar ice cream cone upside down with green icing for a xmas tree, and a pretzel-lined fence. the teacher has been doing this for years and has it down like an assembly line, all the way to taking a picture in a hat/apron. ariana is wearing gap northern lodge plaid skirt. what i thought was a dark navy blue turtleneck was actually black (cant trust the lighting early in the morning you know). luckily it matched the trim on the skirt & leggings. later on in the evening we attended my nephews winter concert. afterwards my sister took us to see a house in newark all lighted up and decorated. you tune the car radio to 87.9 AM. ariana was amazed and trying to figure out how the lights are dancing to the music. my sister told her "she has a magic xmas secret car".

Alpine Sweetie

in lieu of prep PE, they are having a wildlife assembly so i'm free to dress ariana up in a holiday outfit. joy*peace*love top from gymbo alpine sweetie line, matched perfect with a gap waterfall tutu-like skirt. i was trying to do the exact thing when she wore this last year. i looked all over for the tall black boots from crazy8 - no luck. had to break out the faux-ugg style (and cheaper) from oldnavy. aside from learning about st lucia day (scandinavia), the teacher read several gingerbread stories. i got a deal on pre-made gingerbread cookie kits, where all the kids had to do was decorate them. i squirted the icing on them wherever they wanted to stick a candy. this is like a practice for tomorrows gingerbread houses. ariana couldnt wait to get home and eat her cookie, funny i had no idea she liked gingerbreads. you can't catch me...as i'm the gingerbread man.

All i want for Xmas ....

...is my two front teeth. ariana's other front tooth fell out at school first thing this morning. all the kids were on the rug singing the good morning song. ariana must have hit her tooth doing sign language. i'm kinda glad it got knocked off, especially after the long ordeal we went thru last friday. ariana sure cant wait for the toothfairy to come again, she was just here 3 days ago. gonna have to pull from the xmas stash. i wasnt prepared for the 2 front ones to fall out to be creative.

ariana outfit is disneys "shake it up" show, either worn by cece or rocky (raquel). another target line for girls. its suppose to be more of a swing top, but i got it in a size M 7-8 to be more of a dress. paired it with black leggings that are fleece-lined, i even got me a pair (via zulily.com). she had dance afterschool today, while i continued to help out with the see's candies fundraising orders.
arts & craft: todays lesson was about mexico. the children made poinsetta flowers. krinkled up yellow tissue paper for the center of it - pollen.

josh was scheduled to fly in from santa barbara, coming back from his san diego charger football weekend. i told him i'm tied up all day and i can't leave til after 3:00. there was a flight landing at 4:45 where i'll hit traffic going to sfo, only to be in the commute traffic going home. he could practically fly in anytime and i'll pick him up later in the evening or else take Bart. theres the option of waiting til dad gets off at 10:30 tonight. he ended up coming in around 3:00 and set it up for his cousin to pick him up.

Weekend Wrap

i mostly just blog about ariana's outfits based on whats she's doing that day or the weather. i may not sound busy unless i'm dealing her with. i leave everything else out going on in the house or the family drama. well at the same time i was a doctor/dentist friday night with ariana's hangin' loose tooth, we had joshua to take care of. his car broke down on his way home from college (3 hour drive). luckily we have AAA emergency road. the first tow truck gave him a battery charge enough to get him over the county line. then he called another AAA truck to tow him closer to home under the free miles allotted. the plan was to go to our friends house in gilroy/morgan hill, unfortunately they werent home. we called our other family friend in san jose who offered to help. i was under the impression AAA was going to tow josh all the way home and told my girlfriend she was off the hook. right after that, the AAA guy said it was going to cost an arm & a leg. we put san jose house back on the plan, and our friend fell fast asleep. byron came home from work and stayed on the phone trying to work everything out; when all along he could've been on his merry way down there. luckily our friends son came home and took josh in until byron got there. according to AAA, the car has to sit for 24 hours until the next tow trip.

Pajama Party

all the first grade classes are having a pajama drive to teach the children the "gift of giving". when ariana first heard it was going to be like a sleepover, ariana cried because she didnt want to sleep at school all day. sometimes she takes things literally. i told her its a pajama party instead. the kids get to dress in their comfy pj's - slippers, robe, pillows, dolls. ariana wore her gymbo xmas nightgown from last year with thermal leggings, slippers, plus brought dolly & blankie towel. i talked her out of bringing her robe and pillow. believe me if ariana could bring her whole bed - she would have. then the usual 5 moms made a light breakfast - waffles & hot chocolate. unfortunately ariana wasnt up to par, as her front tooth was really loose. i took her home early and she ended up being sick probably from not eating much. plus we both took a well needed nap too. that tooth was hanging by the hair of the chinny chin chin. she played with it with her tongue and even tried giving a little tug & twist. FINALLY at 7:20 pm it came out... when she was throwing up (suka) in a bowl. her appetite came back and hoping the toothfairy is coming tonight. me too!
we left during art&craft time, but we did it at home over the weekend. its a folded xmas tree and you're suppose to draw/color decorations on all 4 sides. ariana drew on one side, but with her fever - i brought out all my ornament sticker collection (from my scrapbooking days). she cut out the red spiral for the garland, and topped it with a yellow star (added gold glitterglue).

Homecoming Kitty

out of all days when i have a stack of red outfits at the end of the bed, ariana asked if she could wear pink. i had to use her kiddie scissors to cut the tags of this gymbo homecoming kitty set. i got this during the last gbr gymbucks redemption period, 50% off. plans for ariana to wear next year, the skirt is size 6 and sweater vest is a medium 7-8. paired with new pair of l'amour navy maryjanes (size 12). i have been taking a close up everyday, as it might be the last time with her front teeth. the right one is about to fall out any day, where the left is a bit wobbly. not sure if she'll make it thru the holidays or else she'll be signing "all i want for xmas is my 2 front teeth".
xmas project: decorated foam xmas tree ornament. every day the kids learn about how other children around the world celebrate the holidays. today they learned about Hanukkah and made a menorah.

Holiday Plaid

this outfit came from one of my girl clothes loops, it is still nwt (new with tags) and worn once for a photoshoot. the dress & turtleneck are both from tcp the childrens place. they're size 6X/7 - just a tad big on ariana and hopefully she will fit perfectly in it next year. wearing black patent umi maryjanes to match the 2 belt buckles.
art & craft: xmas tree made out of squares (mosaic)

santa note update: remember the toys r us bike over the weekend? it was $99.00 plus $10 assembly fee. the other day i went online to get a pic of the bike sku. i make a folder on the desktop of all ariana's gifts. dont tell byron - he'll make me turn it into an excel spreadsheet for budget purposes. anyways the exact same bike was on sale for $67.49. i called customer service and they told me i would have to ask if the store would match the online price, there store was more $74. here i hung out with my sister at starbucks thinking the store opened up 9:00, only to find out they've been opened since 7:00. somedays it opens at 6:00 in the morning. back to the bike - i pick it up and get a price adjustment. santa daddy is really happy. probably since he didnt have to fork out $200 at the bike shop, and doesnt mind if she grows out of this one because of what we paid.

Purple & Gold

its day #2 of the last two weeks of school. my plan was to dress ariana in all her christmassy wear, but it feels too early to get into the holiday spirit. perhaps i'll start next week. the bay area has a frost advisory freeze warning and prep is PE. her whole outfit was built on top of the gap tuxedo ponte pants. the plaid ruffle tiered shirt dress is from marshalls. ariana said she looked like a teenager thats on one of her shows. i did find this in the big girls section. boots are from gap too. i layered her with a gap purple shrug sweater, so she wouldnt have to wear the purple wool london fog coat all day long.
art project of the day: candle lanterns (did you guess the one with the pink background was ariana's?). there are xmas lights strung across the classroom, made by the kids last week.