i forgot the funny picture!

melon was right! i left out the best one! with joie and her belly button!

really really late pictures

i was wondering where these pictures went. i finally found the pictures from christmas... yes, CHRISTMAS! and they're so cute, i just have to share them. there's a lot, that's why they're so small. first, here's lolo and lola with all the apos standing beautifully in front of the tree.

now, here's what the house really looks like. kalat and chaos. but so much fun for the kids.

and after all the presents are opened, and all the food is eaten, the kiddies change into their pj's and wait for santa, watching "christmas story" for the seventh time on tbs. (it wouldn't be christmas eve without it!)



and while the kids do fun, yet slightly dangerous, stuff like this...

the adults do not-so-fun, but MORE dangerous stuff like this...

um, is somebody watching the kids?

"is thiiiis a two sticks?" (it's been a long time, hasn't it, mitor?)

and everyone has a wonderful wonderful time! even these little jail birds. notice the smear of little fingerprints on the bottom right corner of the lens. sticky christmas hands.

i bet this will be the last christmas he's shorter than perci

mmmmm.... SARAP! my christmas dessert!

and the twins say, "merry christmas to all, and to all a good night". THE END.

point your fingers and do da twist!

melon called me one day months ago, all excited, telling me that she bought tickets to see the wiggles show live. it was such a wonderful idea, and i knew gani would love it so much, so once that tax return money came in, i bought us three tickets to go see them! perci unfortunately couldn't make it. he's been in a really clumsy/bad luck streak lately. first, the shoulder. then it's been sickness after sickness (food poisoning and two bad flus), and just recently he got rear ended and had headaches from it. basically, missing work for the wiggles wasn't an option. so i ended up taking gani and lupita. baby diego (her little brother) JUST arrived last monday [CONGRATULATIONS!!!] , so i thought it'd be nice to give mami and papi and break and take her to something fun while they rested.

so in the rush of the day, we get to oakland with plenty of time to spare when, of course, PARKING! the show started at 3:00 and it was getting close, with no parking. i was even going into the businesses around the theater asking if i could pay them to park in their lots. i finally convinced one guy to let me *squeeze* into this corner space that wasn't even a parking space just so we could get there on time. and in all the commotion... i forgot my camera in the car. so unfortunately, no pictures, but i'm trying to make this as entertaining as possible. (the pictures shown are "borrowed" from another mommy's blog who was organized enough to bring her camera to at the show).


so as we finally got in the theater, the wiggles had already taken the stage and were just starting "big red car". i swear, i got so excited, i started running in the lobby, leaving the kids in the dust. they were totally lagging behind, completely confused like, where are we? and why am i running? is that the wiggles i hear? then i opened the door to the theater, the song came pouring out into the lobby, and you could see the stage all bright and lit up with colors, and i looked at gani to see his expression. he looked like i opened the door to heaven. he was so excited! lupita was totally excited too, and she doesn't even watch the wiggles!


so unlike melon's experience (sorry, melon, you had to go through that), ours was really kick back and pleasant! i was really worried because she called me the night before to warn me about the chaos that broke out at the wiggles concert, so i was ready to bring leashes for the two. but it was fine. it was at the paramount theater in oakland, which is one of those really small, old theaters, and it was in the middle of the day, so it wasn't so crowded. i expected gani to get all hyper and throw up from dancing, but he was completely mesmerized by the show. he didn't even dance, he was so entranced. they basically stood up the entire time in front of me with their chins resting on the seats in front of them, captivated throughout the whole show. and then at the end, they started fighting over whether to put a seat up or down, and they lost focus. but it was perfect timing because it was during the last song.

overall, it was a really good show! i got to see jeff and captain feathersword really close up, which was pretty cool. i don't know why, maybe it's because i watch them every frickin day of my life, and i finally got to see them in person. what was sad was to not see greg. :( gani even asked me halfway through, "mama, where's greg?". i didn't think he'd notice! but sam actually did a really really good job of taking his place. you can tell they even trained his voice to mimic greg's in the more popular songs. then he was free to use his sam voice for the other songs that weren't so familiar. and props to the wiggles for even doing this for as long as they have. they're super old! by the end, murray was soaking in sweat and panting while he was thanking the audience and saying bye.

the highlights of the show were:
-seeing benny dance live (that boy is cracked out, i think that's why he's so thin and hyper)
-murray playing "stairway to heaven"
-the sign in the audience that read, "dylan's mommy thinks anthony is hubba-hubba-hubba" (hello! inappropriate mom!)

i had so much fun (as you can tell). i wished another adult went with me so i could debrief with them! that's why this post is so long, i guess. anyway, it ended with a trip to mall for treats since the two monkeys were so well behaved the whole time. soft serve and a nibbler each from mrs. fields. followed, of course, by meltdowns as the sugar and excitement wore off. thanks, wiggles, for a great time!

two and a half

ok, finally new pictures! i just recently decided to go back to using film. i got tired of never being able to upload my pictures because every computer i work on is ancient and can't handle all the photos. then today, i developed a roll at ritz and to my absolute horror... the total was $16.25! no doubles, just singles with a cd. wow. back to digital it is! in any case, here are some beautiful pictures of the zuzu.

"i'm a rebel!" look at this BIG GUY. i swear, i never notice how big he's actually getting until i look at pictures like these. not only does he look big, but he's starting to do daring things like balancing on the edge of step stools without me looking. two and a half is a tough age. when he turned two, he started with the tantrums. now it's turned into outright defiance. "no like it, mama!" or "no, papa!", followed by him running away from us and throwing his body on the floor in another room is a common everyday thing in our house. it's so frustrating. but it's comforting to hear the very same sounds coming from downstairs too (incoherent adult voice, followed by a loud "NO!", followed by rapid running of little feet, followed by the cries of punished child). good to know we're not the only ones going through it, and that it's just a phase.

here he is contemplating the meaning of life. or just looking at the crows outside.

this is his sunny day gear. pamper and long hair. he absolutely hates changing into clothes. it's the same routine every morning and after bath. he'll scream at putting pants on and hide under the sheets because he loves being naked under them. what an island boy.

and this is his rainy day gear. apparently at school, they play outside regardless of what the weather is like, so on rainy days, he has to go looking like this. he looks like he's about to do some construction work. but he loves his new rainboots, and based on last year (30+ days of straight rain last march), we're going to put those boots to good use!

i haven't posted pictures of what our new flat looks like, so here are a couple. basically, it's sturctured like a mini hotel. one big, long hallway with rooms off to the sides. i'll post more pictures when my other roll of film is developed. bleh. i'm taking them to walgreens.

and finally, here's the zuzu and papa having a ball torturing each other. they like to wrestle and body slam each other, to my extreme dismay. i always seem to get caught up in the middle of their wrestling bouts, and someone always ends up mad (me), or with a bloody mouth (gani), or getting kicked in the privates and gets mad (guess?). you can dish it out, but ya can't take it!


gani putting papa in his famous feet of fury headlock. those feet are lethal!