{An Illini in a Desert State}

It's a new year!

Well what do you know? I do remember that I have a blog!

We've been busy. The holidays were good. This is the first Christmas in this house, so we had fun decorating. We might have been the Grizwold's of the neighborhood. LOL

We contined the traditon of matching pjs:

Decorated the house:

We (Giang helped!) made these wreaths from dollar store ornaments, based on this blog post.

We placed the tree in front of the big window in the living room. We had these star lights from IKEA (a few years old) that we thought might look good framing the window.

It took a few days, but my husband decided he didn't like it. Why? Because it reminded him of a 'portal'. (we watch a variety of TV, including sci-fi shows. LOL) so we never turned it on again. He thought the tree might get sucked through. LOL

Christmas was great. CK got more legos and halo Megabloks sets than he knew what to do with. Ethan, on the other hand, really could have cared less. He doesn't get it yet. He just knew that he wanted to play with whatever CK had. LOL

Since it was Giang's brithday, the boys got him a McRib t-shirt (which he LOVED) and I got him The Pioneer Woman Cookbook. It reads exactly as her blog does. And I can't wait for him to make something from it. LOL

Giang surprised me with a Silhouette Cameo machine. I was a bit surprised...

Secretly, I think it was for him too. This way, he can make more Halo costumes for Christopher, and it will at least cut it out for him. LOL

This was the first time in 7 years that Liz didn't come visit before Christmas, but we had plans to visit her in Tucson at the Desert Museum. Here is Aunt Liz and her boys:

Being the best aunt there is, she knew, without me telling her, that the boys wanted Angry Birds for Christmas. They were over the moon!

Well, Ethan really was happy, but was too busy playing 'birds' (what he calls them) to take the pictures. LOL

What else happened?

We've developed an obsession with hexbugs:

and CK got his yellow belt in karate:

We also spent a lot of time looking at computer screens. (I have an obsession with Pocket Frogs. LOL)

and my little bro (well, he's 22) had a baby. So cute!

And I am attempting Project Life for the 2nd time:

And my goal this year is to try to keep this blog updated (per my mom's request. LOL)

Happy New Year!

Coming to a Christmas card near you...

Jamie the super photographer took our pictures on Friday, and posted some on Facebook tonight, and already has my CD ready to mail to me. AMAZING.

My absolute favorite picture EVER, I think:

And this:

Oh, and this too:

I can't wait to get these up in my house! :)

To remember about the 'incident'.

If I don't write these down somewhere, I'll forget.

After we discovered the break-in, and were contacting all the neighbors to see if they had seen anything, I found CK sitting on the curb bawling. I went and asked him what was wrong, and he said, "They took (sob) the heavy tablet (sob) with all of my (sob) youtube (sob) videos (sob) on it." He would take one of the tablets (the heavy one (of the 2 we had), obviously, LOL) and prop it up against something on the floor. He would then proceed to record himself either running a hotwheels race, or talking about his Halo figurines, or playing with his legos (like the youtube videos he watches online). We just hadn't put them on youtube yet. But they were on the tablet. We had intended to download them. (Not soon enough, apparently) But you didn't know wether to burst into laughter bc THAT's what he was upset about (and not the fact that strangers were in our house?!?!?) or burst into tears bc your heart just breaks everytime he sobs, and you konw that when you are 7, those videos are really important.

Later, as we're trying to get him to eat dinner so he can go to karate (trying to keep his routine normal) he quietly says, "Santa, if you can hear me, can you please bring us all those things that the bad people took from us? You're always watching, right?" (now you hear the sound of my heart breaking.)

After the deputies had left and it was FINALLY bedtime: "Mommy, I am really sorry that they took your cameras. And daddy, I am sorry that they took your watches. I am going to ask Santa for all of our things, and make sure that he gives them to you." Then you hear the sound of my heart bursting out of my chest. LOL Man, I love that kid.

Then we proceeded to stress to him the next morning to not inform everyone he sees at school what happens, so no one will be scared to come over and spend the night. We happened to pick him and his friend up right after school, and the teacher came up to ask us about our 'visitor.' I just laughed, and said, "Who did he tell?" Um, EVERYONE. LOL SHe said it was the entire class-she simply said, 'I'm really sorry that happened" and proceeded to change the subject. Then we were stopped by another mom from his class on the way to the car that he told while she was volunteering Tuesday, and we relayed the story to her. He's not the best secret keeper, apparently. LOL

 

 

 

Uneasy

While we were at work on Monday we had a visitor. Or visitors. And they came though the window. :P :P :P

It's odd coming into a house, your house, and know there's something different. Seeing the blinds on the back window pushed inside and laying over the couch. The sick feeling as you look around and you see the contents of you closets, drawers, and dressers scattered across the floor. The realization over the next few hours that x, y, and z is now missing, and the pictures you never downloaded off the camera (and the digital one you just passed along to CK)? Well, they are gone now-they all disappeared with the burglars. :P  The watches Giang's collected over the years, some of the jewelry gifted to me, and the tablets that provided hours of entertainment for the boys...gone. I'm most sick about the pictures from Halloween that never got downloaded from the camera. GRR.

I'm grateful that no one was hurt since we weren't home when it happened, that we didn't walk in on them to witness it. I'm especially grateful that they didn't take the laptop that was out in plain sight that included all of our pictures (and NOT backed up). But knowing that a stranger went though all of our things is unsettling. (They even went through Ethan's drawers. You walk into a room with a crib and think, "Hey, let's ransack this room bc there is obviously something in a BABY's ROOM." Idiots.)

The deputy's were nice that were here to take the report. But even Ethan seemed to know something was wrong-he clung to me and refused to even look at them for the first hour they were here. He was BFFs with them by the time they left, but my child that says 'HI!' to everyone we pass on the street was suddenly shy and scared. And really, he's been a complete mama's boy this entire week, so I don't think it's out of his system.

What a project life entry this will be. LOL

But, on to more happier things. Like a new haircut and pictures with our favorite photographer, Jamie. Ethan hadn't had a nap, and pretty much wouldn't do anything I told him to, but she's so easy to work with and a 'go with the flow' photog that I know there are at least 1 or 2 in the 400+ she took. These are a few Giang snapped of me and the boys after we got home. This hair only happens once a year, so I like to remember it. (it's one of only 3-4 days that my hair isn't in a ponytail or a clip. HA!

and one of me and the big. :)

Here's to a happy weekend! :)

Happiest of Halloweens

to everyone!

The requisite matching pj picture:

and an outtake I love:

The rest were epic fails. LOL

Giang and I went to our first Halloween party. ADULTS ONLY. We hired a babysitter and everything. And the best part was that it was just down the street. (Still drove the babysitter home, so I didn't drink that much. And I still had to get up with Ethan in the morning, so it wasn't like I was going to get to sleep in...) It was a lot more fun than I thought, and I am glad we went. This is what we were:

Know what we were? It took people a minute. I think the nametag I had (that you can't really see) should have given the Price is Right away. :) I totally found this idea on the internet and copied it-I'm not that clever. It really served a few purposes. 1. Had a nametag for a party where we only knew a handful of people. 2. I didn't have to take off layers or completely disrobe in order to use the restroom. (good when you are drinking. LOL) Giang was also going to be a contestent, but about 2 hours before the party he decided to be Drew Carrey and printed out the mask, etc. Quite clever I thought.

 

We hope you get lots and lots of candy! :)