Frozen jeans and more stories
Such a busy holiday break, I don't even know where to start ...
Most recent:
- I think I now know how Jack and Rose felt in "Titanic." Well, Jack anyways, since Rose had a makeshift raft. So here I am, standing in freezing water just to get the best shots as a bunch of even crazier people take the plunge into Lake Michigan as part of the annual New Year's Day Polar Bears dip. And as a shameless plug and ploy to generate more web traffic for us,
check it out yourself to see what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, and here's proof (thanks to one of our brilliant photographers Sam Castro, who was right there in the freezing lake water with me):
I seriously thought I had frostbitten feet afterward. I couldn't feel my legs or feet as my wet jeans had gotten frozen onto my legs in the 4-degree wind chill weather. And it was quite a challenge trying to change out of jeans frozen to my ass, frozen boots where the laces refuse to be untied (it was like trying to unwind twigs) and frozen socks -- all while I wondered whether my legs had any feeling left to them.
- We have two Christmases in our family ... the one with my family in Indy, and one here with The Husband's family. And the girls (and Ian, one day!) love it, as they get soooo many gifts. Christmas ... is all about the kids and seeing the sheer joy on their faces now. Don't even ask what The Husband got me.
- Ian not only looks like his dad, he's beginning to act like his dad. He doesn't want to exert any extra physical energy unless he absolutely has to. The lazy fella won't turn over; he's content just sleeping flat on his back and crying for his toys rather than trying to turn and reach for them. But there's hope yet -- at least I'm training him to be sensitive to women's needs.
Cute story: While hanging out with daddy as he shoveled, the girls got out themselves their little lawn chairs from the garage. They were just sitting there like a couple of old women you'd see on a humorous Hallmark card. Too cute.
Lazy Ian
Boost for the ego when your girls want to be just like you!
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All decked out for the New Year service at church. Since Norah doesn't have any Hmong clothes, she's wearing Ella's old Chinese outfit Uncle and Auntie Tou bought her for her first birthday. She just LOVED it. She's going to be such a girly girl.
Snap happy
Let it be recorded that:
During our Indy trip this past weekend, I, for the first time since getting my camera almost two years ago, filled up my 1GB memory card for my camera. I was snap happy and got a ton of photos (between 250-300 photos). The down side to this is that I have to sift through these tons of photos to showcase here. And I tend to get lazy doing that.
So here are a few more random ones.
Aside mini-story here:
Norah has been able to speak in complete sentences for a few weeks now. And the even more amazing part: I can totally understand her, though I doubt anyone else would be able to! And, like her older sister, she can count to 10 in three languages. Well, almost in Spanish. She misses "tres" and "quatro."
But the little Chubster is so shy, every time I try to get her to show off her newfound toddler skills, she clams up and acts like she can't speak a word or that I'm speaking Greek to her. Again, like her older sister, she just needs a little time to warm up.
Kid Heaven
The kids always enjoy visiting Grandma and Grandpa and alll their cousins in Indy. It is absolute Kid Heaven for them.
Impossible to get 8 kids all under the age of 5 to look at the camera all at once. Kudos to anyone who can achieve this near-impossible feat.
All sans Ian (sleeping already) decked out in the Chauncey Billups jerseys -- gifts from Auntie Lisa and Uncle Kevin.
Best friends forever.
"Norah, who's your best friend?" ... "SHAR-YET!"
Cousin Theoden enjoying raisins and "BAH-VOONS"
Caught!
Been so super busy these past few weeks. I realize I've reduced my posts to just once -- maybe twice -- a week. That has not been intentional.
But -- here's proof of me at work. Thanks to our super talented chief photographer, Bruce Halmo who caught me on camera with me totally unaware. I look bored, I know, but really -- I enjoy my video production work (just not the long hours).
And the final product -- Check it out for no other reason other than that it is my work (I know like 99.99999% of my readers could care less about high school basketball, much less high school basketball that's not even considered local for you guys!).
PTA parent moment
Took a nice, extended break from work Wednesday night to bake cupcakes with my girls.
It's Make and Take Day today for Ella's 3K class, where parents come to school with their kiddies and helps out with various Christmas projects, all while enjoying treats that everyone brings. We opted to make cupcakes, something simple where the girls can actually help.
While making cupcakes, I felt like such a PTA parent! Not that that's a bad thing; just a new sensation is all. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm the soccer mom whose turn it is to be the carpool driver cartin' around a dozen attitude-stricken future Mia Hamms just about ready to burst with an extra dose of butt-kickin' girl power.
Those pictures will be coming soon ...
Lipstick, breast pumps and bras -- Another women-only post
There are three things in life where the extraordinary price really does mean extraordinary quality (in no particular order).
1 - lipstick
2 - breast pump
3 - bras
Anyone who knows me knows that I refuse to buy expensive bras. To me, bras have always been like socks. No one's going to look there anyways and it's just a piece of cloth, right? How much difference could there really be?
A lot of difference.
Baby sister Lisa works for Victoria's Secret. And every month employees get to take home new, featured bras. Since she's got three wonderful older sisters (the oldest sis is the best and brightest, btw), we get to be guinea pigs for said bras.
Now that I've just about run dry from my nursing endeavors, I can finally switch to a non-front-clasp bra ... to the Victoria's Secret bra Lisa gave me months ago. And wow -- I cannot believe the difference between a VS bra and a cheap, department-store bra. I can't even explain it.
But I still don't know if I can afford to wear
just VS bras ... :)
Cute story: While hanging out with daddy as he shoveled, the girls got out themselves their little lawn chairs from the garage. They were just sitting there like a couple of old women you'd see on a humorous Hallmark card. Too cute.
Lazy Ian
Boost for the ego when your girls want to be just like you!
