Yay, it's the weekend!

Katie wasn't feeling good tonight and was complaining that her stomach was hurting. She had a cup of milk tonight and threw up afterwards. My stomach wasn't feeling too great either, so now I'm wondering if it was the dinner we had. I thought we had a great dinner, minus the tummy ache. Stu grilled chicken tonight and I'm not sure if it was the chicken that was bad or if it was a little under cooked. Stu thinks it was under cooked, but I blame myself for that because I kept telling him to not over cook it. Thankfully Katie feels normal again, and my stomach has settled a bit more.
We have a pretty busy weekend ahead of us. We have a lot of house work to do tomorrow afternoon, and then we have a birthday party to go to. Then, we're planning on taking the kids to the zoo Sunday. I'm trying to find one of those cute insulated tote bags to take with us so that we can take our lunch. The food there is junky and not to mention overpriced!
We have been really good about eating healthy, and proud of ourselves that we have changed our eating habits (or at least for the most part). We have red meat once in a blue moon, whereas we'd have it at least 1-2 times a week. Stu uses his Jack LaLanne juicer almost everyday and makes us fruit and veggie drinks so that we get that all in. I am not much of a fruit eater and I definately don't get all my veggies in everday, so drinking it is so easy and it tastes great surprisingly.
This week has been pretty hectic for me as far as deciding on whether or not to keep my board certification. At the end of each year, we have to renew our certification and pay our fees. Well, with my dad being sick at that time, and with us living at my parent's home for the month of Dec, I completely forgot to renew it. I followed up on it and they gave me till the end of this month to pay my fees to renew it. Not only did I realize that I was late on my fees, but every 3 years, we are required to complete so many continuing education hours, and yes, this happens to by my recertification time. After talking to Stu and trying to decide what's best for me, I've decided to continue it. I have worked way too hard in getting my Master's and sitting for my boards to throw it away. I have also worked with so many great children with autism, and I feel honored to be able to have this title, so I can't give it up. I love the principles of ABA (applied behavior analysis), even though I feel like I need a refresher course. I joke and say that I've lost all my ABA skills after having Sophie. I quit my job in Jan 2007, so needless to say, I don't have any continuing education hours. I need to have 24 hours by Nov. I was so stressed, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is a 3 day workshop that is offered in 2 weeks, and my friend Gail who is also the director I worked for, has generously given me a HUGE discount to go. I am so thankful! The rest of the hours I can take online. So, some of my stress has diminished. Thanks to Stupot who is always supportive and gives me great advice, and to Gail who is hooking me up to go to Dr. Carbone's workshop.

Family Fun

We've been trying to get back into our "normal" routine by going out and doing fun family things. One of the things we do is go to Home Depot where they offer children workshops every 1st Saturday of each month. Katie built a birdhouse with daddy this day. She was so proud of it! After she's done, she receives a certificate and a pin to put on her apron. Unfortunately that day they ran out of pins! Hopefully we'll collect loads of pins this summer!

Silence...ahhhh

Yes, the kids are in bed and I'm having a quiet moment to myself. This is the time where I can relax and enjoy a cup of coffee, even if it's late. I'm one of those that can fall asleep within an hour or two after having coffee, even though it's not decaf. Today ended up being a nice day. Mom came over for lunch and she made us Katie's favorite, bulgogi. It's marinated sirloin strips bbq'd to perfection. It's delicious! After lunch, Mom, Katie, and I went shopping at Watters Creek while Sophie stayed home to nap. Stu was able to get some quiet time to himself, plus he's trying to get over a cold. I love Watters Creek, I just wish it was a bit bigger and had more shopping places. It reminds me of the promenade in Santa Monica, just a smaller version. Went to Gymboree to buy Katie some clothes, and mom ended up buying all sorts of stuff in there for her, plus some books for her from Borders. Katie had one thing on her mind, and it was ice cream. So we went to Paciugo and had some gelato. It was a great day except for the part when I scolded some twin boys there. So, as we're strolling alongside the beautiful stream, we see a duck with her ducklings that were tiny swimming in the stream. So adorable. Then I see these 2 boys, probably around 6yrs old splashing the ducks. None of their parents were in sight, and others were watching them with disgust. I had to say something and told them nicely to stop. Well, they looked at me like I was crazy and continued on. Two other ladies told them to be nice, and they ignored those ladies too. So, needless to say, the Super Nanny in me kicked in to high gear. I grabbed Katie's hand (I guess for moral support?)...poor Katie, and I told them off like they were my own kids. I said, "DO NOT splash those ducks, they're not your ducks, and that behavior is unacceptable!". Then I asked them where their parents were and they were freaked out. I walked off and then a part of me was thinking their parents were going to walk up and tell me off, so I was out of there after that. I think now that I have kids, I feel more comfortable yelling at other kids (joking!).... but in all honesty, I would've never spoken up. In the past when Katie was little, we'd go to playgroups where she's been hit or pushed, and I didn't feel comfortable telling the child to stop. Instead, I'd remove Katie from that area and have her play with something else. I hope I taught Katie at least a little something today, in that we don't treat animals or other people in that manner.

Easter Fun

Before Easter Sunday, we went to my mom's for lunch that Saturday, and then headed to Dad's cemetery. I had Katie wear her new Easter dress to show grandma and I told her how much grandpa would've loved to have seen her in it. I thought they should wear it to dad's cemetery to show him. It made me cry because I know how much my dad thought Katie was the most beautiful grandchild out there! Then there's Sophie wearing Katie's hand me downs, and for some reason, they look like hand me downs from 5 different kids that wore it, even though Katie only wore this particular dress once. There was Katie looking beautiful, and then there was Sophie, something didn't look right. I think it was the dress, because I had her wearing a different dress Sunday, and she looked darling.

For Easter, we invited our friends over and had the Easter egg hunt and lunch at our home. Unfortunately it had been raining earlier in the day, so we egg hunted inside the house. The food was delicious and the company was great. We had a relaxing Sunday with family and friends, what more could we ask for.

In grandma's backyard

Coloring Eggs before our friends arrive

Eating candy after the egg hunt

"Leave me alone mom, let me eat my candy!"

Sophie's 2nd Birthday Party

Sophie is a big fan of Elmo and Sesame Street, so I had to make the cookie cake and the cupcakes for her.

Here's the birthday shirt I made for her.

My mom thought of this game and it was a huge hit. The kids got a prize for each cookie they were able to grab.

Everyone was singing Happy Birthday while she cried. She had one thing on her mind, and it was eating her Elmo cupcake!










Finally getting to eat the elmo cupcake!









One of her favorite presents.

First Blog for the family

I think this is a wonderful way to keep family and friends up-to-date about our family, especially our family that live overseas in England. I see blogs everywhere and I am so impressed how others keep it going...especially those moms who run a side business working from home, keeping up the daily chores at home, feeding the kids, and most importantly raising the kids! Speaking of, so far I've cleaned a bit, put a load of laundry in, started folding the clean clothes, and started to think about the orders I have to full-fill, while Katie and Sophie are playing together upstairs nicely. I made a healthy lunch for us all today. Baked chicken with sauteed garlic, onions, mushrooms, and steamed carrots and broccoli. Stu and the kids had a nice soft roll, while I skipped out on the carbs today. Yesterday was the start of my calorie counting days again until I lose 10 lbs. I did great yesterday and went to the gym and burned off 500 calories! Whoohoo!

The Girls - Katie is 4 years old going on 15! Sophie just turned 2 and beats up her sister. However, I do see moments where they hug and kiss on each other, and like this afternoon, they are playing ever so cutely. Sophie copies everything big sis does, including playing with Barbies already. The way Sophie says Barbie is "bawbie", but then noticed that daddy says it the same way :) Sophie might be getting the english accent from daddy.
I'll soon be posting pictures up, especially from Sophie's 2nd birthday party. Soon to come....

How our family is doing - Well, since June of last year to March of this year has been one of the worst times of our lives. My dad passed away March 2nd 2009 of lung cancer. He was a non-smoker, and have realized how many are diagnosed with lung cancer even though they've never smoked. We received the dreadful diagnosis in Jun 2008. My dad is an inspiration in every aspect. He was a brillant man, intelligent, caring, and loved his grandchildren dearly. He was so proud of them. He and Katie had the most precious relationship. I miss him so much that it hurts, but I know his spirit is with us each and everyday. We love you dad.