Our Day at Disney

We went to Animal Kingdom for our first park. We saw some shows, went on some rides and met some characters. It wasn't too busy and we walked right on most of the rides. It was a chilly day only 47 for the high, but we suffered through it. Lance went to the show "It's a Bug's Life" which was a big step for him. It is 3D plus and he hated it when we went to it 9 years ago. He has always insisted that we stay away from the ride since we went when he was 3, but this year he decided to conquer it. He still doesn't like the show, but he wasn't afraid. Liam went on Expedition Everest and Dinosaur ride. He liked both of them and liked going on the big rides. Shella May just loved her first trip to Disney.

On the Safari ride looking at the animals.

In front of the Tree of Life

Our Florida Vacation

We went to Orlando for a week and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. The first few days we just stayed around the house and played, enjoying the weather (although cool). We couldn't swim in the pool due to the cold weather, but they did ride bikes, take walks and play shuffle board.

Our first Christmas as a family of 5!!

Our Christmas week started out with baking cookies. The kids and I have 3 weeks off from school right now and we wanted to do something fun. They also found a lot of time to go play in the snow. Ryan was lucky because we had a snowstorm warning on Christmas Eve, so to make life easier for everyone his manager said he could work from home that day. My mom did come for dinner in between bands of snow on Christmas Eve, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet night.


The kids got up really early on Christmas morning (of course) to run downstairs to see what Santa brought. They got movies, books and the boys got new sleds. Shella May got a towel that looks like a duck.
Shella May wears her duck towel every day, all day! She keeps asking me if it is dirty, so I finally said please put it in the laundry.
We got a fun family game from our friends. The kids dove right in and started playing of course. Ryan even got into one game, but I saved you from any pictures of that:)Shella May got a new running suit. She loves wearing running pants more than anything else, although jeans take a close second. The pants are way too big, so she tucks in the shirt and the jacket. She needs to eat more so her waist can catch up with her height.Merry Christmas to all our friends and family near and far. We thank you for all the Christmas cards, gifts and well wishes. We are really looking forward to 2010.

Maligayang Pasko

Note: Our camera is awful and we are begging Santa to bring us a new one before we go to Disney World this year. Please, we have been good.
Today we went to a Filipino Christmas party that the Cultural Society of Filipino Americans holds every year. We have gone the past few years, but this year was the most fun because we had Shella May with us. Shella May and Liam were invited to be part of the children's choir and have a part in the play that they do every year. (Lance was invited, but declined due to shyness) They have been going to practice for the past few weeks, which they loved, but they really liked being part of the show today. Shella May was part of the family in the play and also an angel. Liam was a king in the play.
They also had Santa come and give out gifts, blessings from Lolo and Lola, food and games. We all had a great time. Ryan even played musical chairs, but he didn't win:(

The Children's Choir singing the Christmas Alphabet Song

A scene from the skit. Shella May is part of the "family".

Our Birthday Girl!!

Shella May turns 7 today and it has been quite the birthday week. Today she was all ready to take her treats to school for her birthday and we had a snow day. We don't get them often in MN, so it is a real treat for us. We aren't really doing much special for her birthday today because we had thought we would be busy with school and church. We just keep telling her happy birthday and she is getting birthday wishes by phone and email.

On Saturday we had her family birthday party. My mom came over and I made a Filipino dinner. I tried to make Pancit, Chicken Adobo and rice. We bought some mango juice for her to drink and we had birthday cake for dessert. She opened all the gifts from family and had a nice night.

On Sunday we invited a few friends over for a friend party. I went for a traditional party of games, presents and cake. They played pin the tail on the donkey and a few other games from my childhood. She opened the gifts and loved it because her friends gave her toys (unlike boring family that gave her clothes:) They went outside for about 15 minutes also because there was a lot of energy in the sugar-filled kindergartners. Overall, I think it was a fun 2 hours for her.

Making Christmas gifts

Lance and Shella May helping sew.

Shella May helping out.

One of Shella May's jobs was to find thread of each color for Grandma.

Yesterday we decided to make some gifts for the orphanage that Shella May lived at. We are sending a few DVD's, some chocolate and "silkies" for the kids. Both the boys love sleeping with a silky, Lance started the trend at 4 months old and it still continues in our house for Liam and Shella May. My mom made Shella May one a few weeks ago and before that Liam had loaned her one. All they are is a small square of satin feeling fabric to cuddle next to when you are sleeping. Yesterday my mom did all the sewing, Ryan ironed them and I did all the cutting and anything else that needed to be done. All three kids stopped by at different parts of the day to help, but it was short lived. We worked for about 6 hours and made over 30 of them. I told my mom that we have it down so well we could go into business together. I know it doesn't look like Shella May is having fun in the pictures, but she really was excited about helping, it just doesn't show in her face at picture time.

Shella May modeling how to use the silkies.

And The Holidays Begin

Last week Grandpa and Karma came to visit for the week. It was fun because Shella May had never met them. Now she has met all her grandparents. It was extra special because the kids only had two days of school last week, so we got to spend lots of time with them. We played a lot of card games, watched movies and just had fun hanging out.
For her first Thanksgiving we had Ryan's dad and wife and his brother and family over. We had a traditional meal with all the fixings. Shella May's favorite food was the turkey and she disliked the pumpkin pie. She did like the other pies though. Overall she said it was an okay holiday, but she liked her school version better. On Tuesday they had a feast of popcorn and juice to celebrate the holiday and she loved that.
On Friday we bought and decorated our Christmas tree. She thought it was a lot of fun to go through all the crates and find the ornaments she wanted to hang up. We have a tradition of buying the kids a new ornament every year, so we looked at the Hallmark book on line. I'll take them later to pick them out. Shella May thought it was funny that most of our ornaments are Star Wars theme and I'm glad that she will add a little variety to our tree.
Hopefully with Shella May's birthday approaching and all the fun Christmas events coming up I will be blogging more.