Christmas time is here :)

CHRISTMAS SURVEY!

What Would You Rather:


1. Get kissed under the mistletoe or in the snow?
under the mistletoe by a warm fire, snow is too cold

2. Santa or Rudolph?
Santa

3. Stocking or presents?
Stocking has always been my favorite :)

4. Egg nog or hot cider?
Cider...anything with the word "nog" just doesn't sound appetizing

5. Angel or star?
Star

6.Sugar or chocolate chip cookies for Santa
usually decorated sugar cookies

7. Warm cozy fires or sleigh rides?
warm cozy fires

8. Family time or friend time?
Both....aren't they the same thing?

9. Expensive presents or presents that come from the heart?
Definitely from the heart, my daughter's gluey, glittery craft gifts are better than anything you can buy me.

10. Snow ball fight or snowman?
Snow ball fight, snowmen take too long

11.Coal or presents?
DUH, presents

12. Open presents quick or slow?
slow

13. Diamonds or rubies?
Diamonds are a girls best friend ;)

14. Caroling or Christmas stories?
Stories, but I think so many carols are like stories as well

15. Snow days or ice days?
Snow

16. Red or Green?
Red

Questions

1. Best Christmas present received?
my beautiful nativity set from my mom, a close second was my bike with a banana seat decorated with clouds :)

2. What's the number one thing you want for Christmas?
Just to make it through the holidays happy and healthy. I can't think of much for my Xmas list and it driving my family crazy.

3. If you were going out with someone, what would you want them to get you?
I'm married...and we decided not to get each other anything and get a new fridge.

4. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe?
not romantically, only by Mia or my mom , Aaron is so unromantic he wouldn't kiss me under the mistletoe even if I threatened to poison him with it.

5. Age you stopped believing in Santa Claus:?
I remember the exact conversation, I *think* I was 8

6. Do you send thank you notes?
I try to, especially to certain people.

7. Do you wake your parents up early to open presents?
I AM the parent, I GET WOKEN UP EARLY, but I guess it's payback because I'm sure I did that to my parents as well.

8. Worst Christmas Ever?
I was almost 10 (I looked up a calendar) it was a Sunday Xmas so we weren't allowed to play with friends and I remember we (me & my sibs) fought all day, and made my mom so upset she spent a lot of the day in her room. I remember I felt so bad even at that age I knew Xmas was her favorite holiday and we ruined it for her.

I'd love to see your answers so steal away!

Over already???

I can't believe how quickly Thanksgiving came and went! We had a fun filled weekend and we're SO GLAD that Nana Carol, Papa Jeff, auntie Whitney, and uncle Rhett made the trip up to see us. They left early Wednesday morning to beat the traffic and made it in time to have lunch with us that day. Mia's kindergarten class had a little feast complete with a live preformance of "She'll be coming around the mountain" and "5 fat turkeys". They were all dressed up like pilgrims and Indians and looked great! Then, you can't imagine how excited the kids were to arrive home from school to see the visitors standing on our front lawn! We took them to Ah Sam's (a local florist) because the shop is all decorated for Christmas, including around 10 trees decked out with unique ornaments which my mom loves. They also have a corner all set up for family photo ops - free, no purchase necessary :)
The next day started early with my mom and I heading up to Aaron's parents' house to start the big feast. We wanted to get dinner on the table in time for Aaron to eat. Of course he didn't have the night off from the airport, but he was able to eat with us nonetheless. We had a 22 pound bird and 17 people to feed. It was so much fun having everyone together for such a beautiful meal.
Friday we decided to skip the shopping since none of the sales had any stand out items on our Christmas lists. Instead we had a yummy breakfast and went into San Francisco and strolled through the botanical gardens at Golden Gate park. Then we had a picnic and watched the kids play.
Saturday we took a trip down to Santa Cruz. There we met up with Whitney's fiancee Adam, and his family. They had prepared a wonderful brunch and we all got to know each other better. Mia REALLY warmed up to Adam's sister, Katie, and only wanted Katie to take her on all the rides when we went down to the Boardwalk.
We had a fantastic four days and although it wasn't fun to say goodbye, we know it will only be 35 more days until we meet up with everyone again. We're going to SoCal for New Year's and of course the main event...Whitney and Adam's wedding! Only 40 more days sis :) For now we'll deal with the Christmas countdown. We hope everyone had as enjoyable Thanksgiving as we did.

Are you stocked up on batteries?

It's that time of year! I swear as soon as Halloween comes I feel like I'm changing the cameras batteries constantly. I have one set of rechargeable, but then I use disposable batteries when I'm charging the others.
Oh and the other reason to be stocked up on batteries...Christmas. I wish every toy used the same batteries, it's like a conspiracy with battery and toy companies. I've already managed to buy most of my kids gifts and I need AA (of course), then the next most popular C battery, I also need a 9 volt, and the ginormous D-I think that stands for daddy battery, and last are the little silver disc batteries you use in the noisy, obnoxious books. I wanted to get a lot more battery-less toys this year and go with a lot of wood toys, but thanks to letting the kids watch too many cartoons they're wish list is full of toys with all the bells and whistles. No, I'm not indulging their every wish, but three toys each is 9 toys already. Gosh, I feel bad for John & Kate plus 8!

Come on over...

FOR A PETITION SIGNING PARTY!

It will be on going Sunday-Tuesday. If you are a registered California voter you are welcome to come to my house and sign a petition that would send the bill SB 777 to the voters in June, where this new law will most likely be overturned. If you are not familiar with this bill, it was signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger in October and would begin mainstreaming the teaching of homosexuality/bisexuality/transgender as perfectly normal behaviors. There is no "opt out" option. It would be mandatory education in public schools starting in kindergarten through high school. This bill would also allow students to choose the gender they wish to identify with, so if a boy feels like he should have been born a girl, he will be allowed to use the girls facilities, be on girl teams and run for prom queen (and vice versa for girls). This is a link to some basic facts http://www.saveourkids.net/pdf/SB777-InfoFlier.pdf

My goal is to get 100 signatures so make sure to bring your husbands and friends to sign these petitions, it only takes 30 seconds. We need over 700,000 signatures total in order for it to go to a vote in the June primaries. I will even do a "drive thru" just call when you get to my house and I will run it out to your car for you to sign and you won't need to unload all the kids :)

Come by between 12:30pm - 7:30pm on Sunday & Tuesday and 1pm-6pm on Monday. If you cannot make it in this time frame, but would like to sign, please call us so we can work something out.

Message us if you need our address/phone #

Thanks so much,
Aaron & Julie Shong

A cause worth fighting for!

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law in October '07 that is truly destructive for traditional families. This is a bill (SB 777) the voters should get to decide NOT just our governor and legislators. If you have children that are or will one day be in a California public school I urge you to educate yourself on this topic. This is a pretty simple explanation of what will happen if we don't stop it. I also created a new myspace page (open to public-no myspace acct. necessary) with lots of information about the bill www.myspace.com/stopsb777
Please pass this on. I will soon be receiving petitions and you are most WELCOME to come to my house and sign away so that this law will be sent to the voters where it will most likely be overturned! My goal is to collect 100 signatures, so bring your friends and family as long as they are 18 and California residents. Being against SB 777 doesn't mean you are homophobic, it means you want schools to stick to the education of our youth. Reading, writing, arithmetic...remember those?!

Just the Facts on SB 777

· There is legal protection for students without SB 777

· SB 777 changes the law on instruction and activities

· Protection for homosexual, bisexual, and transgender students has been law since 2000.

o The Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (AB 537) protects "all persons in public schools." It prohibits discrimination based on actual and perceived sexual orientation.

o It explicitly extends protection from the California Penal Code to schools. The Penal Code protects all people in the enjoyment of their rights, as secured in the federal Constitution, United States law, the state Constitution, and state laws.

o AB 394, passed in 2007, requires the State Department of Education to "monitor adherence" to AB 537. This may include state monitoring of student attitudes on sexual orientations.

o Bottom line: AB 537 establishes equal protection for every California public school student, which makes SB 777 unnecessary.

· SB 777 does not streamline existing California Educational Code. It adds to the law.

o AB 537 purposely excluded school instruction and activities from non-discrimination law.

o It reads: "Nothing in [AB 537] requires the inclusion of any curriculum, textbook, presentation, or other material in any program or activity ---"

o SB 777 purposely adds new mandates for school instruction and activities.

o It reads: "No teacher shall give instruction nor shall a school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias" against homosexuality, bisexuality, or transsexuality.

o Bottom line: SB 777 adds school instruction and activities to the things that cannot promote "bias," which elevates homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in public schools.

· SB 777 is a mandate for every school district, ending local control on sensitive issues.

o Under the equal protection of AB 537, each school district has discretion over how it addresses the sensitive issues of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality.

o SB 777 takes away parental and local control and discretion over how to address these issues.

o SB 777 specifically includes charter schools in these new mandates.

o Bottom line: SB 777 normalizes homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality across the state, without room for local discretion on addressing these issues.

Not growing out of it.

Kai has a peanut allergy. We discovered it when he was around 14 months old and got into Mia's PB&J. Our pediatrician told us that lots of times kids grow out of this allergy and we should wait and slowly introduce peanuts when Kai turns 3 (next July). Well, Mia had a little peanut butter left on her face from lunch and she gave Kai a kiss on the cheek and this is what happened to him. He didn't even ingest any peanuts and the side she kissed him on was covered with hives and his eye swelled up. Poor little guy, Benadryl and his fishy ice pack were his best friends. This reaction gives me the feeling that "introducing" peanuts for him to actually eat when he turns 3, isn't going to be a good idea.

Look at our 9 month old!

I really cannot tell you where the last nine months have gone. He was nine month's on the 5th. Noah's babyhood is just flying by. He still isn't crawling on hands and knees, but he can get from one end of the house to the other with his army crawl. So far he's set to be our second fastest crawler. Mia crawled at 8m. 3w. and Kai crawled at 10m. (our kids have never been in a rush to get anywhere). He also has 3 teeth, two on the bottom one on top. So far he has really embodied the meaning of his name. Noah means rest or peace. He really is just a peaceful little guy with a cute baby chuckle that could make the grouchiest person crack a smile.

Send a thank you to the troops overseas

(I got this from a friend the other day and I'm passing it on because I think it's a really good idea.)

Something cool that Xerox is doing

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them...

Thank you librarian!

I've posted before about how Mia brings a book home from the school library every day and her homework is to read it. She has to do a sort of mini-book report on 2 of the 5 books. Well the book that was sent home yesterday was one of my favorites. It was a great story of generosity between families after WWII (based on actual events). Hard to believe it's a children's story, but it is. The book's title is Boxes for Katje. It was a touching story and I was literally holding back tears as I finished the book. I didn't want to end up explaining how books can make us cry to Mia so I did my best. If you are in the library with your kids or Barnes and Noble I encourage you to find it and read it. Being that it's a children's book it's a super quick read for us adults and it will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Peer pressured

So I don't usually go for chain or tagging emails, but I'm caving since I was publicly "blog tagged". Plus, I'm scared my tagger won't like me anymore if I don't play along :P
Here are the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

I am not going to do rule B, but if you want to play just pretend like I tagged you.

Facts/Habits:

1. I have a terrible sweet tooth. TERRIBLE! I have to have dessert every night. I swear when I get preoccupied after dinner with kids or chores my brain sends me constant signals that I have yet to feed my body a sweet treat. Even if it's two or three hours later I'm thinking...I still haven't had my dessert! Can anyone tell me what's wrong with me?! I definitely am a sucker for baked goods and ice cream more than candies.

2. I pull my hair. A very fascinating habit. I don't pull it in bunches like I'm in a girl fight, I pull at individual strands to find corse hairs and break my hair at weak spots. I know how bad this is for my hair, but I truly cannot stop. The earliest I remember doing it is in second grade in Mrs. Heis' class. My mom has this habit too. It's so bad at the front of my hairline it looks like I have long bangs when really I have never cut bangs. The hair is just so broken from this habit it stays chin length.

3. I'm really bad at folding laundry and putting it away. I do laundry twice a week and sometimes the clean clothes sit out in the garage for two weeks from the first load I did. I will end up folding and putting away like 8 loads of laundry so it takes me like 2-3 hours to fold and sort all the laundry.

4. My hands are always cold. I feel so bad because when I change the boys diapers or clothes I always see them suck their tummies in when my hand touches their warm bodies. I think it has to do with low blood pressure. And my feet are cold a lot too, but they don't come in contact with anyone so I don't have to feel bad about that, just cold.

5. I LOVE taking pictures. I wish I could afford the really expensive camera equipment and software. I'm also intimidated by computer software for my camera so I just don't use it. But really, I could take pictures all day long. I love looking for beauty in things and especially capturing candid moments.

6. I'm a shopaholic! Seriously, I need to find a shopaholics anonymous meeting. My kids impede this habit as far as going out to shop, so I resort to online shopping a lot. I LOVE Ebay! I love researching products I'm shopping for too. Anything to do with shopping, I could do it all day long! I don't understand the phrase "I'm all shopped out" I don't feel that way, I even love grocery shopping. By the way, this is a code for 30% off your entire purchase at Gymboree from Nov. 8-11: CFFRIEND Have fun shopping, I know I will.


All done, now I'm tagging all six of you reading this right now!

All Hallow's Eve

So I am a major Halloween scrooge. I really dislike Halloween since having children. I thought having kids was supposed to breathe excitement into this holiday, but it only makes it more hectic and tiring. I especially hate pumpkin carving. YUCK! And each kid you have is one more pumpkin you have to carve. I was soooooo drained as soon as I put the kids to bed that night. It's hard getting three kids ready and dressed first for a school event THEN getting them home undressing them all for lunch and naps THEN redressing them all for trick or treating. It's just too much! So now that I got all my complaining out I can tell you the highlights were watching Mia in her kindergarten parade (Aaron was able to be there)and trick or treating with our Culmer cousins. The kids had a very happy halloween, and I'm so glad it's OVER!!!!!

Sometimes the slide show works sometimes it doesn't so if it's out of sorts for you, sorry, it's not just you.

Fallin' for Yosemite

Our weekend began and ended with a bang. Before we left for an extended weekend in Yosemite last week, Mia had her soccer game, I wanted to skip it so we could leave for our trip earlier. We stuck around for the game since they were already down a few girls that week and were going to have to play 4 players vs. 6. Well... she scored her first goal!! She was so excited, she came running over to the sideline and said "I got my first goal!" The whole team did really well, they didn't play like they were out-manned at all. Then it was off to what turned out to be one of the best family trips we've taken. We experienced every kind of weather (except snow) It was pouring rain one minute and we were huddling under trees and bridges to keep dry. Then the sun came out and it was warm and beautiful. Then their were thunder storms, almost freezing temperatures, and at times so windy the leaves were being pulled off branches by the hundreds so it was almost like snow. Whatever mother nature threw our way we had fun with it. We stayed in the Yosemite View lodge 3 minutes outside of Yosemite's gates. The views from our back porch were amazing and it was so relaxing. The reasons we stayed there instead of the park are pretty pathetic. First Mia and Kai love the indoor pool (we stayed there before) and second they have TV's to occupy the kids while we're in the room. Yosemite has no TV's in any of their cabin's/rooms-which is a good thing, but it's nice to keep the kids busy in the morning so we can get ready (and sleep in a little longer). There was tons of wildlife out and about too. Raccoons everywhere, then we also saw a bear, we were in the car so I didn't feel worried about the kids. Something else that we saw while in the car was a coyote. We rolled down the window and the kids were all peeking out and it came right up to the door! Needless to say, we rolled up the window, I think it wanted to eat the little kiddies :P We saw deer and of course squirrels. Can we just talk about the scenery too?! The leaves were changing and it was beautiful. I've never experienced autumn like that before. It was also great because there are no crowds this time of year. We could have made it a week instead of a long weekend. And I said it ended with a bang, well as a welcome home we experienced a 5.6 earthquake just as I was putting the kids to bed. It really shook me up, Aaron was at the airport and I didn't know who to get to first. I ended up just standing in the living room waiting to see if it was going to get bigger and then it was over. Mia just called out, what was that? She thought someone was shaking her bed. Kai didn't show any sign that he just experienced his first earthquake. Something to add to the "firsts" section of their baby book...I love California.

It's BAAACK!

So you think my first post in a week would be about our amazing Yosemite trip or a picture overload of the kids on Halloween, but NOPE, my first post back is about how incredibly happy I am that Taco Bell has brought back their chili cheese burrito aka chilito! They have been off the menu for 6 years now and the reason I know this is because I was craving them big time during my pregnancy with Mia. I went in one day to get one and they told me they had removed it from the menu. I was so sad I almost wrote the company-mind you I was 5 months pregnant and very hormonal. The funny thing is that Aaron loves them too, and was just as bummed when they did away with them. Anyway, yesterday I went into Taco Bell for a quick lunch and I saw signs everywhere for "chili up your nachos". I had a thought...what if they put the chili in a burrito with some cheese instead! I called Aaron and he said-get me 2. The best thing is that it tasted like the same recipe chili, so it really was like the same old chilitos. It was funny because while Aaron was diving into his, he was like "I have to call Adam and Aaron and tell them about this." Which is actually what made me think to blog on our return favorite Taco Bell menu item. Thank you TB for bringing the chili cheese burrito out of retirement :0)

--I also want to add what a lazy wife and mother I am being today. Our house looks like a tornado hit it after Halloween yesterday, and I don't plan on doing much about it today since I feel so wiped out. I also have not unpacked from our weekend trip. I kid you not. I have started laundry, but all the clean clothes that are in suitcases are still sitting out in the garage. We also woke up a half hour late this morning so Mia was late for school this morning and was mortified that she had to go to the office first and get a tardy slip. She wouldn't even hand it to her teacher, I had to do it. Then we get home, I feed Noah and jump on the computer. Kai has had no breakfast, I am not joking I hand him his trick or treat bag and let him go to town. So far I have opened two crunch bars, m&m's and a tootsie pop for him. Oh, and he is still in his pj's and I'm going to let him watch TV ALL day. Great mom, huh! HMMM, I wonder what's for lunch?