Hitting the Houston Zoo

Wow. What a gorgeous, winter day today. It was a crisp and cool 65 some odd degrees and sunny. We met up with Karen and her daughter and my sisters and their kids to enjoy the day.

The Okapi's tongue can reach out and touch its own eyeball. Hmmm...could very well make another Okapi very happy...


Check out the horns on this thing

The Day After Christmas

What does one do the day after Christmas? Well, we did two things:

1. I thought that I would outsmart the crowds by hitting the outlets
WRONG. Crowds everywhere. No parking spaces. There were even lines out the door and around the corner at some stores. It was a cold day too! What was I thinking?



2. We celebrated my dad's 80th birthday with a family dinner
We had a lovely dinner at Steamboat Steakhouse to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. The room was beautifully decorated and the whole family turned out all dressed up. Hey, the Lim/ Hunters/ Stoltz/ Lunds clean up pretty nicely when we have too.

It was a very sentimental evening for my dad as well as for each of us, especially when we went around the room and stood up to share with the group how my dad had touched our lives. My father is a very special man and has worked hard all his life. I am so proud of my father and all his accomplishments. I only hope that I am half as good as a parent as my father has been to us.

Merry Christmas to all!

I can't believe that it's another Christmas AGAIN. Only this year, Christmas is with Keira and it's a pretty darn fantaastic one. It's sunny outside, about 41 degrees Fahrenheit and we are just hanging out around at my parents' house until 3pm, when we will go over to Sandy's.

Keira got to open her first gift from Mommy and Daddy today and it was a singing Barney, which she loved for all of one minute before she moved on to terrorizing the remote controls and opening/ closing drawers and picking up who knows what off the ground and stick into her mouth. Kids...

Anyway, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and yummy turkey wherever you are!

Goofing off

We're at Judy's house this week. Here we are goofing off with the camera.

Lauren and Kendall posing for the camera

Madison after swimming

Big smile from Lauren

Cheeeeese


James searching for Transformers

Original religion

I went to church today. I haven't been to church in almost a year. How did I get to church? My sister and brother-in-law are devout church goers...they almost never miss a Sunday. They went on and on about this new Orthodox church and how the service was so fabulous and how I have never attended a service like this because the whole thing was singing and sooooo great. So, yes, yes, I got guilted into it.

I tried to get out of it. I even told my sister that I had forgotten my "nice" clothes and therefore, could not go to church because I refused to show up in jeans. Hmmm...it's a detriment to be the same size as your sister. She said, "oh, you can borrow something of mine."

I said, "but, oh, I don't have any shoes."

"Oh, well you can borrow my shoes too. We wear the same shoes."

Damn.

We dressed up. We went to church. It was a Russian Orthodox church.

What does Orthodox mean? It really means the original relgigion...before the whole Catholic church thing and the spin offs of the Protestants, etc. I think that Orthodox is a synonym for "sermon so long it will cross your eyes."

All of us, five kids and three adults, showed up just a bit late. The sermon had started around 10:00am and we showed up around 10:45am. I thought, oh, great, it'll be over and then we can eat. It wasn't over until 12:30ish. We didn't get out of there until 2pm. OMG. I thought I was going to die.

Well, I think I've paid my respects to God for this year. We can talk about it again next year. Oh, wait next year is next month! Sigh! How time flies.

Snow in Houston, Texas

I think it's a conspiracy. I don't understand it. We came to Texas to ESCAPE the snow and the cold of Norway. And what happens? It snows here. It's going to be well below freezing tonight. Why me? Why? Why? Why? Bleh.

We've been stuck inside all day. Yes, I could have gone out and driven, but it's not my driving skills I'm worried about. It's all the other Texans out there who don't have a clue how to drive on ice. The meteorologist on the TV today told people to remember to pump their brakes frequently. Like duh. How stupid can you be? Pump your brakes? You're just asking to skid and hit something.

Better stay inside. Wait it out. Better safe than sorry.

Back from Austin

Keira and I have been in Austin for the past couple of days. It was so nice to see some of my old buds and have them meet Keira. Unfortunately, the weather was crap, but that didn't put a damper on the trip. When you're in the company of good friends, everything is peachy! :)
Keira's new friend, Oso, a gift from Maris Stella

Keira making friends with Cody

First fortune cookie

Hmm...wonder what it'll say? That mamma will get lucky at the Galleria?

No Black Friday for this family

No sir-ee, Bob. Got a massage. Got a pedicure. Ate at Taco Cabana. Mmmmm...mmmmm...good!

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!

Today marks another passing of Turkey day..the day where families break bread together over a large, oven roasted, succulent turkey and all it's fixin's, proclaim what/ who we are grateful for and with full bellies and sleepy eyes, we sit around the television and cheer the Longhorns on to victory against the Texas Aggies. At the writing of this post, the Longhorns were ahead, but I don't know what the score is now...

Thanksgiving is pretty hectic around this large family. 7 kids, now 9, two grandparents, 6 adults...that's a full house and it's really difficult to have a sit down meal together with so many people. Kids ate first, grown ups age afterwards while the kids ran circles around the dinner table, played together or got into fights with each other.

Despite the noise and the chaos, I loved every minute of it. I am thankful for my family and my friends. I am especially thankful that I didn't eat so much that my stomach felt like bursting this year. :)

The host/ hostess

Mommy and me

Waiting with Uncle Mark for dinner

Judy cutting the turkey

First turkey bite for Keira

Pre-shopping fun: a visit to the dentist

Before I got to the hit the Galleria today, I had to go visit the dentist for a cleaning...I hate to go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned. There's something about the sound of the scraping and the picking that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Think of someone scraping their fingernails down a chalkboard. Yeah, well, that's how I felt.

My wonderful dentist wasn't so happy with the condition of my teeth until he found out that my last cleaning was about a year and a half ago. Then, he gave me some slack. Seems that my tartar problem has to do with my dental floss technique. You can't just put the dental floss straight in and pull it back out. You have to wrap the dental floss around each tooth on both sides. Dental floss technique. Ha! Who would've thunk it?

My teeth are rather sensitive now because my gums have receded. Receded? When he told me that, I envisioned that my teeth had all fallen out and I only had flappy gums to fill my mouth and my dentures in a cup.

Now I have to go back next week to get bonding done on my teeth. That's supposed to help protect the exposed roots on some of my teeth. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe when the cold wind blows now, I won't feel a twinge in my mouth anymore.

Hey, at least there weren't any cavities. I've got that to be thankful for. I'll remember that for tomorrow on Thanksgiving day.

License to Drive

Finally! I have a new Texas Driver's license and I can drive again! It has been such an "ordeal" this week. I've felt just a little bit trapped because my TDL needed to be renewed and I had forgotten to bring my SS card with me.

For those of you who don't know, in order to renew your driver's license these days, you pretty much have to go through some painful bureaucracy before you get a new one.

The DPS requires that you show proof of a social security number BEFORE they will renew your driver's license. I've heard that the lines at the social security office were LOOOONNNGGGG and it took me a week to pysch myself up to stand in line and get one. The office opened at 9am, so I got up at 6:30am to make sure that I could be first in line by 7:30am today.

When we drove up, there were a few cars parked in the parking lot, but none of the people had gotten out of their cars to stand by the door. Well, I took advantage of that fact and stood out in the chilly, overcast weather so that I could be the first one at the door. What happens? This skinny little Vietnamese girl comes up and cuts right in front of me...normally, I would have beat her over the head with a bludgeon, but I guess it was because I hadn't had my coffee yet that I was nice and kept my mouth shut. (but, I was fuming inside...maybe I should have said something). But, it turns out that I was number 2 in line and it only added about 30 seconds to my wait, so that was ok.

After I got the SSN, then, we had to go to the DPS. The line was out the door and it was raining. There was no way I was standing in that line. I decided to go home for some caffeeine and come back at 3pm. Good strategy! At 3pm, I only waited an hour there and walked out with my temporary driver's license.

All in all, I think that I spent about 3 hours in lines today, which was a far cry from the full eight hours I thought that I would have to spend in line.

That's ok. I can live with that. I got my license. I got my license. Where am I going tomorrow? Why, the Galleria, of course to do some shopping, what else does a girl do when she has a license?! :)

BFF (Best Friends Forever)

Here's Keira's new BFF


Here's mine

The mall just ain't what it used to be

OMG. I have to say that I am so disappointed today. My mother, Keira and I went to First Colony Mall in Sugarland today for some much anticipated shopping. Much to our dismay, we found nothing at the mall. The clothes looked like rejects from the 80's. Walking through some of the other stores, I was having major flashbacks of Madonna singing "Lucky Star." What is so lucky about cheesy, frilly, short short skirts with tight leggings and big bows in your hair? I was so glad when that fashion era passed us by and now it's back to haunt us again.

We fled the mall within an hour and a half and went over to my sister, Sandy's house, to help her clean it up and get it ready for sale. In the meantime, we also found some time to have some fun.

Po-po convinced Keira to put on some sunglasses

Po-po taking care of Hannah Banana (that's what I call Sandy's 6 week old because I like the way it sounds together and rolls on the tongue. Pretty soon, I'll just shorten it and call her "The Banana")

Keira got Barney in the clean up process

Sandy cleaning up the kids' playroom

Birthday party galore!

Well, here it is November, and every November, we celebrate my sister Judy's triplets' birthday, as well as James, her older son. Let me say that attending a kids' birthday party without a kid is totally different than attending one with your own kid.

Last year, I just wandered from room to room idly watching the kids, munching on the goodies and generally, the party passed in a haze. This year, I actually had conversations with other mothers about Keira and about their kids and I had to be on my toes because Ms. Keira liked to pick up tiny toys and put them in her mouth. I even joined in the festivites of playing Guitar Hero with the kids. Yes, I played "Living on a Prayer", Beginner level...basically meant that I held down one note and strummed to the beat.

Kids' birthday parties are more fun when you have your own kid, that's for sure. And, it was so much fun to see Keira just wandering from room to room getting into stuff and having a good time. The triplets turned 7 today and James was 10. The youngest there was Hannah (6 weeks old) and she slept most of the time. Just imagine Keira, as the only toddler, trying to play with the older kids and getting into trouble.

Starting off the day with Gong Gong at iHOP

Having fun

Ok, Uncle Robert, I'll sit on your lap for a picture

Yum Yum, time to eat!

The birthday family

Yi Yi captured Keira for a pic

Playing house with a "new friend"

Go, go, go all day long

Waiting blissfully unaware of the upcoming trauma of three vaccines at the doctor's office. Yes, it does hurt, damn it.


Having dim sum with Gong gong (grandfather)


Pooped, jet lagged and snoring


Playing with cousin, Cameron. I want the plane. It's mine, it's mine, it's mine.

First stop: Sushi restaurant

Yi yi (Sandy) and Keira waiting for uni and other yummy sushi delights

Houston, we have a landing

We're heeeeeere! The trip went surprisingly well. No, let me rephrase - the trip went almost without a hitch and Keira, my little baby princess, was fan-freakin'-tastic.

Keira sat in her car seat and behaved the whole way. We ate some snacks, we watched TV, I even allowed her to walk assisted (with baby leash) down the aisle several times during the flight and she made friends with all the passengers as she walked past. Some even made it a point to lean over and try to touch her as she walked by. I felt like I was in the presence of a rock start.

As the passengers were leaving, one woman stopped to tell me that Keira made everyone smile on the plane and that she was so cute and such a delight to see. That made my day!!

This little girlie was such a trooper. When she got to my parents' house, she played with her cousin, Cameron, she sat in Gong Gong (my dad's) lap and she stayed up until her usual sleepinig time of 7:30pm....while mamma (me) was dying because I was so tired.

All in all, a good flight, a good memory and maybe next time I won't to hyperventilate so much.