Fun in the Snow

The much needed rain finally arrived and that means fresh powder up in the mountains. Hubby and I decided to drive up to the mountain today with the kids so we can have some fun in the snow! Wow! Amazing view of the snow capped mountains. Upon arriving to our destination, we were pleasantly surprised to find the place to ourselves. The kids had a blast running, playing, snowboarding, and sliding down the hill. The snow was nice and soft! 

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Life Happens...Playing catch up

Life happens and sometimes there are not enough time in the day to finish everything on your "To-Do List!" Time to play catch up and update you guys on some of the memories and adventures we had thus far.

The kiddos are growing up so fast and we were running out of room in our old house, so hubby and I decided to sell our home and buy a bigger place last September 2014. The kids are happy to finally have their own space...and so are we! Peace and quite at last lol

This year, Brianna turned 13 and Joseph turned 12! I can't believe there's a teenager in our house! Check out my on air radio shoutout for Brianna on 104.3 MyFM MyFM Shoutout Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get on the radio for Joseph's birthday shoutout...hopefully when he turns 13, I'll get through so that he'll have an on air shoutout as well!

Summer vacation was a blast! We traveled to Riviera Maya and Cancun this year and stayed at El Cid Resort! My kids have always been fond of the water ever since they were little, and so they took advantage of every opportunity they had to be in the water during our trip! They swam in the resort pool, they swam inside an underground river at Xcaret, they swam in the river and lagoons at Xel-Ha, and they even swam with the dolphins! There was so much to see and so much to do, that a week in this beautiful place was not enough!

Riviera Maya: El Cid Resort

This year, we also started a new travel tradition...Tommy Trojan is our official traveling gnome! As you can probably guess from his name, we are big USC fans! Tommy certainly enjoyed himself during our trip and plans on hitch-hiking in our backpack again next year! :) 

Tommy Trojan...our new traveling companion

Last month, hubby's parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! They renewed their vow and had a grand celebration! It was truly a blessing to be part of their bridal party and witness them renewing their love for each other! I can only pray that hubby and I will be blessed with that many year together!

50th Wedding Anniversary

The year is almost over...3 more months and before we know it, Christmas will be here! Stay tuned for more memories...

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Never Grow Up...Happy 12th Birthday Brianna

To Our Little Girl Brianna...

Each year, your dad and I have the privilege of celebrating the day you came into our lives! We feel incredibly lucky to be your Mom & Dad! On your birthday, may God continue to guide you in your every step and ...may beauty and happiness surround you today and always. We hope you know how much we love you and that no matter how old you are, you will always be our little girl!

Happy 12th Birthday Brianna!

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Happy 10th Birthday Joseph

 

Dad and I wish you all the best in life Joseph. 

We hope you know that you are such a blessing from heaven and every year we are thankful to God for blessing us with such a loving and sweet boy like you. 

We pray that the Lord will continue to enrich you and bless you the brightest future! 

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY JOSEPH! 

All our love, mom and dad!

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Heavy Medals

We made mommy and daddy extremely proud this week when we came home with medals around our necks! It was awards week at school!

The whole student body was gathered inside the school auditorium...students names who achieved high scores on their CST Test were called one at a time. First up was Language Art...our names were called and we both receive medals for being Proficient in Language Arts, including achieving 25pts higher than last year's score.

The next day, we had another awards assembly...this time for Mathematics. Our names were called again for achieving Proficient in Math and achieving a higher score on the test this year!

Mom and dad were super proud of us and took us out to our favorite sushi restaurant to celebrate! It was yummy!

Wonder where we'll put all our medals :)

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Bungee Jump...sort of!

Joseph really wanted to try bungee jumping...kid friendly style that is! We were at the Burbank Mall last Saturday to watch "Hansel & Gretel" when we heard a bunch of kids screaming with joy! We look down and what do we see...kids attached to bungee cords jumping high in the air, some even doing flips in the air! Of course, our daring lil' man wanted to try it out right there and then, but we were on our way to the movies.

The following day, while Bri was at her friend's E's house, Joseph got to strap on and he started jumping as high as he could, trying desperately to do a back flip in the air. Dad yelling and laughing in the background, "Tuck your legs in and flip!" Joseph tried and tried, and finally, after several attempts...success! He did a back flip over and over again!

How we ever got him to get off that thing was a miracle! He was having a blast!

Check out how much fun he had!

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Catch up time...

Wow! We can't believe it's 2013 already! You know what that means...we get to start many new adventures! Sorry we haven't posted in awhile! Mommy has been very busy preparing for the holidays, working on school stuff for us, and hanging with Lola & Lolo.

Let's see...what did you miss? We are excited that Lola & Lolo will be staying here in the States longer! We love hanging out with them in their new pad!

During our winter break from school, mom, dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle D, Auntie A, and our cousins went to the Ice Kingdom in Long Beach! It was super cold (9 degrees) but lots of fun! We got to go tubing on the ice and slide down an ice sculpture of the Queen Mary! We also got a chance to explore the Queen Mary while we were there! The view of downtown LB was amazing! We even got to pose with Captain Bear :) Check out our photo op with him!

Mommy and daddy have a lot planned for us this year! Brianna will be starting Middle school and Joseph will be in 5th grade. We haven't decided where we are going for our family vacation this year...maybe to Cancun or to the Bahamas. We're keeping our fingers crossed. We are also looking forward to going to Catalina Island in August for our Uncle D & Auntie A's wedding!

We'll keep posting about our adventures, so be sure to visit our blog soon!

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Election day...sort of

Brianna is running for Student Body Secretary at our school. Mommy made this shirt for Brianna and her friends to wear on election day! Hope everyone Makes the "WRITE" Choice and Vote for Brianna :) We'll let you know how the election goes, so be sure to check back soon!

UPDATE: Well, the elections are over...school election that is! After running a great campaign, we are proud to say that although Brianna did not win Secretary, she is still a winner! Brianna gave a great speech and showed that she has great stage presence. The votes was close...Brianna needed one more vote to tie with Emma (the girl who won). Brianna took it like a champ and was happy with her performance. Good luck next time Bri! We love you!

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Summer 2012 Trip to Puerto & Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

This summer, we went on our yearly family vacation...destination Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.

We enjoyed lots of swimming in the pool and the beach. We also had many once in a lifetime experiences, like having a private swimming time with two dolphins, swimming with a seal, going horseback riding on the beach of Mexico, riding a pirate ship adventure and sailing to the the private Majahuitas Beach, where we went kayaking and banana boat ride. We also went snorkeling there...but unlike when we went snorkeling in Hawaii last year, this time we didn't get to see that many sea creatures because of the storm that came in the night before. Maybe on our next trip, we'll get to see new and exciting underwater sea creatures. We wonder where mom and dad will take us next year. We can't wait!

Here's a couple of pictures from our trip:

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Trip to Paradise (Hawaii)

Mom and dad took us to visit paradise. We went to the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Mom and dad had a lot of activities planned for us. First we went to visit the Polynesian Center, where we learned about the different islands of Polynesia. We even learned how to hula and use the poi balls. Later that evening, we went to our first luao where we got to eat lots of yummy food. Then we were off to watch the fire show. That was awesome.

During our trip, we also went on a boat and submarine ride. The sub went down 107 feet under water. That was cool. We saw sea turtles, sting rays, jelly fishes, and lots of other sea creatures. One of our favorite was when we went snorkeling at the bay. We were able to get real close to the fish and other sea creatures. It was amazing to see them under water.


Our trip to paradise was awesome. Until next time, ALOHA!

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Creativity Mode

We just got back from our school Open House. This was our chance to show off what we've learned and some of the things we are working on at school. Check out some of the creative artwork we made!

Below is an artwork that Joseph did for his 2nd Grade Class. It's a picture of a contemporary house.


Below is a Brianna's interpretation of Picasso painting. It's a self portrait of her.


Here is another artwork by Brianna. It's an interpretation of Monet's Garden.


We are learning so much at school. We can't wait to post more of our artwork soon. Maybe someday, we'll be famous like Monet and Picasso. =)

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Happy 9th Birthday Brianna

Happy 9th Birthday Brianna!

We celebrated Brianna's 9th birthday one day early, so that our family can join us. This year's theme was a Masquerade Party, so mommy and daddy bought different masks as party favors. They also bought different colored beads and party blowers. Everyone put their mask on at the party. It was so much fun seeing everyone wear their mask. It was just like a real masquerade ball, only not as grand.


Mommy and daddy ordered so much food. My favorite was the Egg flower soup and the Crispy Pork Chop. For desert, mommy special ordered a 2-tier cake. It was green and purple, and the decorations fit-in perfectly with our masquerade theme. The top tier was made of fresh strawberries and the second tier was a marbled chocolate. Yummy!


Tomorrow, mommy is suppose to take me to get a mani-pedi. I can't wait to get pampered.

We hope everyone enjoyed all the good food and had fun at the masquerade party! Thank you for all the presents!

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Brianna's Pre 9th Birthday Celebration

Our family decided to celebrate Brianna's 9th Birthday early, by going to Universal Studios Hollywood with some of our family. This was the first time we have been here, so we were excited about our trip. Grandma, Granpa, Uncle Danny, Auntie Annie, and our cousins Liam, Kali, and Mackenzie joined us on our adventure.

Our first ride was the Tram Tour...it was such a long line, but it was worth it! Our favorite part was the King Kong tour! That was so cool and scary at the same time. We also rode Jurassic Park. This was a wet ride and was lots of fun. The line was short for this ride, so we rode it twice. Uncle Danny and Auntie Annie bought everyone a poncho so we can stay dry. We all looked like little chicks in our yellow poncho. Another favorite ride was "The Mummy Ride." Joseph didn't really like this ride, because it was a roller coaster.

Check out Joseph in his new motorcycle.

Here's a picture of the girls. All we need now are the leather jackets.

While walking around the park, we came across this stage, so mom decided to take a picture of us. Check us out, as we play some rock n' roll music. Mom called our band "The Chicklets!"

We can't wait to go back again, so we can experience the other rides. Good thing mom and dad bought an Annual Pass, so we can go again and again, for a whole year. Stay tuned for more pictures and more fun.

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Christmas Celebration

Christmas has come and gone...We had so much fun spending time with all our family and friends. Most of all, we had lots of fun opening all the presents. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was held at our house this year.

Daddy's side of the family spent Christams Eve with us. We played lots of games with our friends and new cousin Liam. Kali, Mackenzie, Brianna, and Liam all changed to their matching Sponge Bob PJs. Joseph had a matching pair, but decided not to change into them :( That would have made an even better picture if Joseph had put on his PJs with us. Oh well, maybe next year.

It was soo much fun staying up all night, but we were sooooo tired. When the clock struck midnight it was time to open presents. This was our favorite part. We received lots of clothes and toys (Rock painitng, Belle Princess Doll, Legos and many more). After the party ended, we had to hurry and go to bed, so that Santa can stop by and drop off our gifts. Good thing we were already in our PJs. Mommy and daddy helped us leave Santa some milk and cookies.

Christmas morning came, and we were so excited to see if Santa came while we were asleep...Horray! He came and left us presents. Santa also finished all the milk and cookies we left him. He must have been hungry from traveling around the world to all the good little boys and girls. Santa gave Brianna an electric keyboard and a pony doll. Joseph received more Legos and an electric guitar.


After opening Santa's gifts, it was time to get ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Mommy's family were on their way to our house to celebrate Christmas...this means more fun with family and best of all, more presents for us. There was so much food to eat (Lasagna, BBQ ribs, Spaghetti, Kare-Kare, Beef Morcoon, and not mention all the yummy desserts), we didn't know where to start.

After we ate, mommy showed everyone the movie and slideshow pictures she made for everyone to enjoy. It was a collection of old photographs of all our family. Lolo Bert and Lola Lita really loved it. Our favorite part, was when she made a movie of all the girls doing a disco dance. That was soooo funny!


The day after Christmas, we drove to Tita Emy and Uncle Mike's home, to celebrate with our great grandma (Nanay), Auntie Cris, Tito Do, Tita Helen, and Tito Jhong. We had fun opening our envelopes...I bet you can guess what was inside them :) Our favorite gifts (money to buy more toys).

We hope everyone had a fun time. We can't wait till next Christmas.

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Baby Joshua's 3rd Birthday

We will be sending our "Love Letters to Heaven" via balloon release tomorrow for Baby Joshua's 3rd Heavenly Birthday. We love you and miss you baby! Hope you and your angel friends have fun chasing the balloons!

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Halloween Costume

Here's a sneak peak of what our costume for Halloween this year looks like. We had a parade at school today. It was so much fun. We even got to go to "LA's Best's Halloween Haunted House." It was soo spooky!

Brianna as Cleopatra

Joseph as a Ninja

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone. Don't eat too much candy. =)

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Halloween 2010

Boooo! Halloween is just around the corner and we're so excited to dress up for Halloween. This year Brianna is dressing up like Cleopatra and Joseph will be a black ninja. We will be showing off our costume at this year's school parade. We hope we will win the "Best Costume" contest. Wish us luck.
Last weekend, mom and dad took us to the pumpkin patch at Forneris Farms. It was so much fun. Cousin Amilie was there too. There was soooo many pumpkins to choose from. They even had a pumpkin bowling...and guess what? We played the bowling and won a train whistle and a pumpkin for knocking down all the pins with pumpkin. It was so much fun.

Our favorite part was when we went to the corn maze. The corn stalks were soooo high, we couldn't see which way to go. Good thing we had a map to help us find our way out. We went to the left, then to the right, and then we went zig zag and by the time we knew it, we found the exit. 18 minutes to be exact. That was sooo much fun.


After playing a the pumpkin patch, we went home and craved our pumpkins. Mom carved a hello kitty, Tita Christina and Uncle Phil also carved a witch hello kitty, and daddy helped us carve a kitty and a spooky eyes on ours. It was soooo much fun.

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