Find Your Happiness

The kids and I are obviously in Indiana for our annual visit. We spent 4th of July at my sister's house since baby Lucy --my newest niece--was only a week old. My sister's in laws also came to celebrate with us. And as always, the day was filled with tons of laughter from the kids and food for the adults. In the evening, we went back to Mom's house to watch the neighborhood's fireworks. Amelia and I didn't stay out to watch the whole thing because she kept wanting to walk near it and also kept tripping on the concrete floor. Hopefully next year, Hubs won't be gone for what would be the third Independence Day in a row and we will get to enjoy the holiday as a family of four. Or at least help me keep an eye out on the kids near the fireworks!

I can't believe I never blogged about this! Since I shared them on Facebook months ago, I guess I just sort of thought I had done it here, too. Major blogging fail. These were taken last May during our quick emergency family visit . The boys were drag racing down the driveway. Don't worry, we had two adult spotters ready to stop them from going all the way to the not-busy road. Nathaniel talks about Daniel eeeevery single time. Everything he does, he wants to share with Daniel. And if we go somewhere, he asks if Daniel will be there. It breaks my heart to be so far away from family but I know, at this time of our life, we are exactly where we are supposed to be. I terribly miss my nephew and niece and cannot wait to snuggle them both next month!

While we were in Indiana for Thanksgiving, Nathaniel and his cousin Daniel had their hair cut together. Cookie Cutters (hair cut salon that specializes in children) usually does a great job cutting Nathaniel's hair but they just messed up big time this time. The lady gave Nathaniel what I have dubbed, the Cleopatra bangs (see last photo). I hate it. I think it's worse than the chili bowl the base in Monterey, CA gave him. It's just plain horrible and I cannot wait till it's long enough so we can fix it :(

While we were in Indiana, Mom and I felt pretty brave and we went to Sam's Club. On a Saturday. Armed with TWO toddlers. The cousins did well but it definitely required some entertaining on my part. If God ever decide to bless us with multiples, He must really think I am capable of parenting them... because that would be a lot of work. The very last picture is bad pretty blurry but I am trying to share more photos even if they make me cringe knowing they are not "perfect" (technically speaking). I really want to show how much fun these two boys have whenever they are together. They were blowing raspberries one second and then started head banging the next. I didn't have time to fix my settings and had to snap the photo or the moment would have been lost.

Nathaniel and I safely arrived yesterday late afternoon here in Indiana. God definitely watched over us and was with us throughout the travel. We started early and left around 6:15am, just as my husband left for work, too. We were blessed with great driving weather and very minimal traffic. When Nathaniel napped after only an hour (10a-11a) with five more hours of driving to go, I was for sure we would have a bad rest of the trip. But he did great! His brain on the other hand is a different story. I am sure it is mushed from watching Monsters, Inc (twice), The Incredibles, Dora the Explorer and Word World. He is not allowed to watch TV for the rest of his life ! Well... maybe again in two weeks when we're on our way back to Georgia ;) My nephew Daniel is spending the evening and all day tomorrow with us since my sister is on call at the hospital tonight. The dynamics between these two is so much better compared to when we were last here (December). They rarely fight and in fact, ...

Nathaniel and I arrived safely in Indiana yesterday afternoon. It has been a year since just the two of us traveled together so I was a lot little nervous. It was also our first time flying with Nathaniel weaned from nursing. And it was a little rough because the little one cried because he got tired of sitting on my lap and wanted to explore. The lack of 12-hr nighttime sleep due to waking up him up at 0545 to catch a 0730 flight didn't help either. But we're here and I'm going to try not to think/worry about us traveling again until we have to do it, which is in about two weeks. Nathaniel and his soon to be two-year old cousin Daniel had a great time playing in the water yesterday. It seems that every time we are in town to visit, Mom's central air conditioner unit breaks down! So while waiting for the guy to fix it, we were outside grilling, eating ice cream, and watching the boys cool down in the water. The boys sure had a great time and...

Nathaniel and his cousin had two consecutive sleepovers during our stay in Indiana. The boys stayed up way past their bedtime, played until they were exhausted, and were not corrected as much when they misbehaved because after all, they were at Lola 's (grandma in Filipino) house---and whatever happens at Lola's house, stays at Lola's house. Growling together because apparently it's fun and very amusing Then they started to torture bother Spencer (my mom's dog) and jumping on the bed. Technically just Daniel because Nathaniel can't jump just yet but he thought it was hilarious. Then they tried to climb the headboard Do I even want to think about the troubles these two are going to cause/get in to when they are older?