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!