Builders of Tomorrow

I made our boys dinner last night and while they sat on the dining table to feed themselves, I told them the quicker they finish the sooner I would play with them. I was planning to read them a story time book or play hide n seek, but found some unopened lego bricks from a birthday party we recently attended. I figured this is what we would do tonight for a good 30 minutes. As I reorganized their bookshelf (I like their books organized by height – tallest to smallest) and watching evan devour his plush buzz, I hear my two little boys running up the stairs.

“Ok, boys, it is lego time”.

Sometimes I’ll let my boys get creative and build whatever they want with their lego bricks, but tonight, we were following directions that came along with the package. Aiden is really good at using his thinking skills to build the lego and has always been a fan. We typically buy him a set so we could build together if we’re at the mall. I love how lego allows my boys to develop their motor skills because they have to interlock two bricks together or maybe more. It also forces them to get creative, too!

They both had fun building their own duck and horse.

I always make it a point to have playtime with my boys every single day. It gives me an ideal opportunity to fully engage with my boys. There are days where my tired, but I know they need me and despite all the benefits that derive from play, I make sure it’s on my to-do list because play is essential to my boy’s development. I’ve said it before and will say it again; I would never have kids if I knew I couldn’t take care of them.

Love my boys. XOXO.

Batman Live | Honda Center

my batman, if you can guess, aiden saw the advertisement on the billboards as we're driving on the road one day and asked if batman was coming. of course, i told him there's a show and batman was planning to be there. so from there on out, he kept asking me when he would be able to go and when is batman coming. he would ask EVERY SINGLE day to the point where it was driving me crazy. he would ask, i would answer, followed by his famous line "why". he basically had to earn his ticket to the show. we've developed a point and money system. the batman live was done with a point system and i set a point of 10 that had to be earned. if he was good or completed one of his assigned task(maybe finished eating, putting his plate in the sink, playing with his brother, etc) he earned 1 point. 

anyways, he earned his way to the show. i tried to do the BOGO tickets through Food4Less and it was a total failure. I went there twice and the customer service managers didn't have a clue about their own advertisement. i became frustrated and spoke to their store manager, who in turned had a better knowledge of the deal. apparently, they had a system glitch which prevented the voucher from printing out. so, i was basically shutdown. the good thing is that when i purchased the tickets at Honda Center, i bought the cheapest one and got upgraded to the first section up from the floor for free. the arena was empty and they basically moved everyone down, but never advertised it (think dollars in terms of profit).

the show itself is great for kids. the characters were true to their comic book adaptions. the first half was very slow and picked up in the second half. the use of the cinema screen with the sets was really good. i found humor in the fight scene and believe there needs to be an improvement to make it more of a believable combat. aiden LOOOVED the show unlike dilly and evan. Dilly found every excuse to leave after the first half (he had to go pee, he's hungry, etc). I think he got bored. Evan ... well, he's a baby and survived the show without taking his nap.

Love my boys. XOXO.

                                                                                              photo taken with my iPHone



Triple S: Super Sitter Sister

of course, there are days where my boys think i'm weird especially aiden. but, it's AOK because when you're yourself it's really ok and to be honest, i think it's COOL. as much as i hate giving them up for a few hours, i really had to today to attend my college friend's wedding. i wanted them to be out and about, so i phoned up my sister tina and her boyfriend to take them out miniature golfing at boomers. they had such a great time that i didn't stop hearing about it. i don't know what tina gave them, but the image below is what she posted after they came home. i love that they were being themselves and never taking things seriously. it made me somewhat proud of myself because i taught them never to give a hoot about what people think as long as you're in the right environment to do so. plus, it's part of the secret to a happy life where you make choices and people shouldn't based their friendship on who they think you should be. it's an essential thing in life.... who cares what people think!

thanks again uncle and auntie stinky for taking care of my boys.

love my boys. xoxo.

Let Me Tell You ....

it's one thing to send off two of your not-so-little anymore babies to school (breaks my heart that they're growing up), but it's another to be able to pick them up. aiden and dilly had a pizza party at their school today. for a whopping $3 dollars, they had a slice of pizza, chips, and gatorade. i made it home from work and waited patiently in the car with baby batman (evan) until the guards opened up the gate so we could walk to pick up big brother aiden and dilly.

i love it that my boys smile when they see me pick them up. their smiles never cease to brighten up my day. i truly miss them when i'm at work for most of the morning and afternoon. gawd, call it major separation anxiety!!! but, i make it a point to try my best to pick them up as i promise them.  it was especially hard for dilly when he first started preschool (which I will blog sometime this week), but i wanted him to build trust in his teachers and know that i would return as promised. 

it has been a true blessing to have three little boys in my life. i'm looking for my little dia. where is she? haha.

love my boys, xoxo.

Labor Day | Huntington Beach

it was a sizzling day. i could have fried an egg outside, well, not exactly, but it was hot. of course, whenever we get the chance we always head to the beach. we were lucky to find a parking spot right near main street. aiden and dilly rode their scooters, while i pushed evan on the stroller. i always want to walk the pier and that's exactly what we did before we headed down to the sand. it was extremely packed today. we had several onlookers stare at us and some stopped to tell us how cool our boys look in their speedos. i totally agree with their comments. haha. i'm just sayin'. i can't get over how good dilly is on the scooter. he's SOOO good and learned on his own. he weaves in and out and even around aiden. he's amazing! he would scare you at the speed in which he goes - aiden, on the other hand, is a decent rider, but can't be compared to dilly. 

 as we made it down the flights off stairs on to the sand, papa dang and dilly buried aiden. dilly would never in a million years get down and dirty (for now). he's a clean-freak. it took awhile before he was able to step his foot onto the sand. it's a good thing he loves the water. i spent time with evan on the sand and occasionally took him out into the water ..... dilly and aiden played with each other and papa. they didn't want to leave after two hours at the beach! i love days like this and would never trade it for the world. it brings solace, memories, warmth, and continues to inspire me to be a mother. i want to grow with my family and show our boys that they have my support. together we are a family that will grow, love, learn, and build. it's this force that will make us powerful. 

 love my boys. xoxo

these images were taken with my iPhone 

The Deluxe Wash By Yours Truly

the month of august has been extremely hot in southern california. it was one of those days where i decided we should stay home in our igloo (AC is always on full blast). my boys love being entertained and since the carwash guy was supposed to come and never showed up, i solved the problem, by entertaining the idea of allowing my boys to wash my car! when i asked them if they wanted to go outside to help mama wash the car, they were beyond delighted.  you can hear "me! me! me! yay!" well, they love being outside. sure, they gave my car a deluxe wash (yeah right). besides the fact that aiden got dilly completely wet (making dilly extremely irritated), it was definitely a fun activity. 

love my boys. xoxo.

La Jolla Shores

we took our boys down to la jolla shores to celebrate their uncle's (my bro-in-law's) 34th birthday. we didn't stay for the nightlife obviously with three boys, but we did enjoy our time at the beach. it was my second time in la jolla. my first time here was back in college when i went to listen to a final fantasy concert (concert tour featuring music from the video game) in san diego and my friend and i stopped in la jolla for dinner.  this beach is very family-oriented and calm, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite, although it had such a beautiful view just like many others. there were tons of seaweeds and kelps in the water unlike huntington beach where our family normally goes to. dilly did not like the seaweed at all.  after all, we had an extremely awesome time. in general, our family loves everything about a day at the beach. we would never say "no" .....

we headed back home after we dine at the overhyped "phil's bbq" ....

overall, it was a nice day spent with my boys.

love my boys. xoxo.