Pirates, Stars, and a Trip to China

Where have I been? Well, January has proven to be a pretty tough month for us. We have a brand new schedule to get adjusted to because of football and baseball. Here is what a typical week looks like for us. We are out of the house usually by 6:55am and sometimes we don't get home until late. 

Monday- mom works late, we meet for dinner, Gianni has football practice from 5:45 - 7:30

Tuesday - we eat at home, boys go to cub scouts, Carmen takes a shower, mom drives Carmen to cub scouts and puts her in the car with daddy as they leave so that I can go to kickboxing at 7:45.

Wednesday - I bring dinner from home to my office, we eat together in my office, boys go to football from 5:45-7:30, girls go to baseball practice for Carmen.

Thursday - we eat at home, mom goes to boxing at 6:15. This night is the easiest!

Friday - we come home, get into PJ's, order pizza, and watch a movie on the couch as we all fall asleep tired from our week. 

Saturday - dance class, baseball game, football game

Sunday - recover, shop, clean, laundry

I'm sure everyone else is just as busy so I am not trying to say that I am the only person that leads a life like this but I am trying to show (especially to my father who has been asking for pictures) why it has been so long since I last posted on the blog. HaHa.

So, Gianni is a Pirate and Carmen is a Star. These are the names of the teams that they play for this season. Team sports are new to Carmen.

http://youtu.be/9PSaOTGVa0E

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Here is a video of miss Carmen at her first baseball game.She is the only girl on the team and the coach is trying to get her to see that she really needs to run faster to get to first base. 

Our supper club took a trip to China last night. The table was fully decorated, chopsticks were used by our guests and the forks were hidden. Chopsticks only. I put down a read Chinese character printed table cloth, zodiac place mats, printed plates and napkins, fans, to go boxes were used to designate where everyone sat, and we even ordered fortune cookies with a thank you message inside.

We were all having such a great time and I only snapped a few pictures. I should have really payed more attention to the photos because my flash was not going off and I had hard time editing these for some reason but I think you can get the basics. It was YUMMO! We had one cocktail, three appetizers, the main dish with a yummy fried treat, then dessert with Chinese tea. I can't even say what the best dish was because they were all so good.

Red Lotus Cocktail - vodka, Lichido Liquer, and cranberry juice

Mu Shu Pork Pizza

Asian Glazed Wings

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Hong Kong Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables
Fried Bok Choy Ravioli with a Honey Soy Dipping Sauce

Rice Fritters with Sesame Caramel Sauce

In between these awesome dishes, we played a chopsticks game where the wives faced off against the husbands. We then had the finals and it came down to Jenni versus Abel. Abel was crowned the chopstick champion. Of course. Because he is super lucky and always wins stuff!

The competition was intense at times. We also had fun reading our zodiac signs. Some were dead on while others could not have been more wrong.

The last game of the evening was an origami contest. This was played with your spouse. Jenni and Chad rocked this one.

It was a perfect evening with good friends, good food, and very interesting music!

And a Happy New Year!

 

 Abel and I recently attended a school Christmas party together. We had a long and crazy night out with friends from work. Haven't stayed up that late in a long time. It was fun to go out but it reminded me that I am 34 years old, and cozy nights in with the family are probably more my thing now!

Lots of things were going on right up until the winter break. The kids were busy with all sorts of activities at school. Gianni presented a project to his class on Christmas in the country of Brazil. Carmen was selected by her teacher for Student of the Month. She was presented with a certificate at the school assembly. She looked so scared up there in front of the entire school.

 Carmen also sang with her group from her after school care program in a Christmas Show. The entire class dressed in PJ's. It was very cute and she was very brave.

For Christmas Eve the kids got dressed up in preparation for our regular gathering at Aunt Helen's house. They went out into the front yard and dumped their reindeer food for the hard working reindeer carrying Santa.

After reindeer food, we went up to Nonna and Papa's house where the kids were able to open a few gifts ahead of time to take to our Christmas Eve event. We always do this because it keeps them occupied at the party. Nonna and Papa always read them a story before we get into the car to go to Aunt Helen's house.

 The kids did such a nice job at Aunt Helen's house. The food was amazing as usual and it is always good to see my grandfather's sister and her family. On the way home the kids were in their PJ's and Carmen was looking out the window for Santa. She saw him a bunch of times and reported on his location. Gianni then announced that there was an APP on the phone called Santa Tracker that tracks Santa. I pulled it up and sure enough, he was in Mexico! The next thing I knew, Carmen was asleep in the car. She gave up on looking because the tracker said he was in Mexico. Gianni watched the tracker on my phone the hole way home.

Christmas morning was at our house. We had breakfast with my mom and dad and the kids opened their presents from us and of course their gifts from Santa. Then later in the day it was off to Nonna's house to open presents from Nonna and Papa. They got so many nice things. Nonna made an amazing lobster dinner. It was delicious!

The Friday after Christmas we decided to drive to Flagstaff to find some snow. We found the snow, and bumped into our friends Sophia and Jonah! So weird that we drove three hours the exact same day and time that they did. It wasn't even planned.

The kids had so much fun going down in the sled. Climbing up the hill was not Carmen's most favorite part. Gianni had a permanent smile on his face the whole time. 

This week the kids and I have slowed down a bit. Afternoon movies and family board games in bed have become tradition these last few days. The other day I was unloading the dishwasher and it was so quiet upstairs. I came up and found the two of them laying together watching a movie. Carmen plops her legs all over her brother and he doesn't seem to mind one bit.

My kids are not perfect. They throw their fair share of tantrums and need lots of reminding, but I do love their sweet little faces to pieces.