[day 23] easter eggstravaganza

Aiden and Dylan were very close from not being able to participate in the Easter Eggstravanaza at Irvine Regional Park this morning because they were misbehaving. However, they were down to their last and final strike and they actually listened. We didn’t have any Easter Egg bags or baskets for them, so I just ended up at the Dollar Tree store and purchased 3 for $3 dollars, which was fine. I didn’t really care how it looked as long as they had something to carry their eggs.

We’ve been going to Irvine Railroad Easter Egg Extravaganza for the past three years. I purchased a coupon book three years ago, which came with 15 coupons for $45 dollars that never expires. I always had extra coupons sitting around and used it all this year. The Easter Egg Hunt requires one ticket. My boys are shy. They like the egg hunt and cookie decorating so that’s what we normally do when we’re there. In addition, they’ll get to ride on the pony and horses for an additional $5 a person. I could always throw my boys their own Easter Egg hunt, but I wanted them to be around tons of other kids. It makes the holiday more exciting plus it’s better than seeing just an Easter Bunny at the mall. My two youngest sisters joined us this year since they wanted to come after seeing us at Sunday mass. I’m forever grateful that they tagged along.

Evan can finally walk and couldn’t be feeling more ecstatic about his first Easter Egg Hunt. Technically, he wasn’t allowed to participate since he didn’t meet the minimum age requirement of 2, but we let him anyways. Where else would he have gone? Aiden and Dylan loved it, but they were so slow grabbing their eggs compared to the other kids. It’s OK. What mattered to me was that they had a grand time – I love creating memories with them and if that’s how they wanted to collect their egg, that’s perfectly fine with me!

 I highly recommend this place if you have kids and have listed all of their activities below – It’s currently going on until March 30th and will get crowded. It’s time to create memories of your own!

 • Egg Hunts
 • Meeting the Easter Bunny
 • Hay Rides
 • Easter Cookie Decorating
• Carnival Games
• Train Rides
 • Face Painting
 • Moon Bounce
 • and a variety of Free Picture Stands

love my boys. xoxo

 

[day 22] wheels of fun

we're always busy on the weekends. today, we celebrated one birthday in the afternoon and one at night. in between our busy schedule, we dropped off our tax papers with our accountant. i promised our boys that i would take them to my favorite library, but by the time we arrived, it was already closed. i hate to disappoint my kids when i make promises, so instead, i quickly thought of a back up plan. i figured we had an hour to spend together. i always vow to spend time as a family because i think it's important. we headed down to shoreline village in long beach. i remember seeing the bike rental place when we went out there for their free port tour several months ago. i told our boys, we're going to take a nice bike ride together to look at rocks and the ocean. they were satisfied and beyond ecstatic! you can hear them screaming "yay" in the backseat of the car.

so, we rented a single surrey at "wheels of fun" for $25 an hour. i've always wanted to ride one of these with our family.  i'm glad we did today. the service was ok. our boys really loved the ride along the bike path. we saw boats, people fishing, and of course, since we're riding together, dylan asked when will we take him fishing. he also asked if we could buy him a pair of rollerblades. 

as we headed back, we were going uphill and papa dang didn't have the strength and will to pedal our entire family up. i weighed too much. i knew i was the issue and couldn't stop laughing. i decided to walk with evan instead. it was kind of embarrassing as onlookers watched us struggle, but hilarious at the same time.

our hour spent together was such a perfect evening to my day. every family should set some time to be together. it doesn't matter the amount of time, but it's vital to do it alone with just your own. it could be a reading a bedtime story, eating together, having a game night, whatever it is, to build a strong family unit. our kids need us as much as we need them. it would be too costly to try to rebuild a family - i vow to do it right even with my busy lifestyle.

love my boys. xoxo

 

[day 21] miniature golf + batting cages

we normally spend our fridays at disneyland, but we haven't gone in a few weeks. i think our pass expired, which needs to be renewed in time for aiden's birthday on the 27th. we asked our boys what they wanted to do today and they said they wanted to play miniature golf. we decided to head to boomers in irvine, but made sure to hang out for about 1.5 hours. our boys act wild when they're tired and since they attended school earlier in the day, they would be exhausted by 730 p.m.

i haven't been here for over a decade. it was nice to know that boomers do not charge kids under five for a game of miniature golf. we ended up with a free game. the cashier gave us three golf clubs and two balls. it was really fun and since our boys cannot swing like tiger woods (hopefully one day they can), it was definitely the sport for them. there's no age limit to play and getting outdoors is what we like to do with our family during the weekends. you can't go wrong. 

then, we decided to head to the batting cages and of course, fearless dylan said he wanted to try it and aiden (my conservative son) said he doesn't want to play, but i knew he was scared of getting hit by the ball. 

'twas it was another great evening with my family minus my husband excellent direction skills to locate a taco bell. we drove in a complete circle for 30 minutes thanks to his navigation. 

love my boys. xoxo

[day 18] keeping promises.

i have a thing about keeping promises. it's reflected in everything we do and to be honest, it's a contract. it's a matter of trust and integrity.

i didn't make it on time to pick up our boys from school today. as i drove home, papa dang put me on speaker and i asked our boys how school was and of course, i expressed that they needed to eat after they got home. if so, i promise to make them water balloons and play with them. 

as i drove into the driveway to park my car after 1.15 hours of driving home from work, dylan comes running to my car, which he normally does, and i see aiden from a distance doing the same thing. it came to no surprise that they had already finished their food and was ready for me to make them their water balloons. they wanted 60 total. i don't even know how i agreed to it, but i did. i guess, i felt guilty that i was at work and haven't seen them. it wasn't a big deal and as tired as i was, i did it. it didn't take long anyways.

i made 30 for each (my smarty pants (aiden) counted the balloons to make sure there were 60 total) and off they went in the front yard sharing endless laughters with each other. they tossed it against our house, on the ground, and even on the street. dylan almost hit a car driving by, but the driver put both his hands up because he knew it was all for "fun".

i love watching them smile. i love watching them have fun. i allow them to enjoy being kids because they've spent 7 hours at school and need time to enjoy. but most of all, i'm trying to lead by example. it's a matter of reputation. i've only broken promises as a way to discipline our boys due to their misbehavior and i'm quite the strong-will person when it's time to do so. i have no problem doing it for many reasons. i see it happen all the time where kids are disobedience because there was no meaningful consequences, which could be an issue later in life. 

as a result, part of keeping a promise is honesty. this is the trait that i want my boys to develop as they continue to grow. if you're a parent and feel that not keeping a promise would not impact your kids, i highly recommend that you think again.

love my boys. xoxo.

[day 17] babies galore.

aiden cracks me up all the time. he's into star wars right now. 

we've been making monthly visit to the hospital since a bunch of my girlfriends are pregnant. i actually know someone delivering every single month from january all the way to october. i don't want to think about all the birthday parties come 2014. it's going to be busy, busy, busy! since we've been making these monthly visits to the hospital, i've been prepping our boys and telling them it's almost my turn. this is the only time we leave our boys. we NEVER, EVER leave them unless i'm hospitalized. it's always a difficult time, but a little time away could make our relationship stronger and it gives grandparents more bonding time with our boys. although, dylan told me he wants to sleep with me. he might have the most difficult time away. i just might allow him to sleep next to me in my hospital bed. 

this little man does EVERYTHING for me. he gives me expected and unexpected massages. he delivers anything i request from papa in the middle of his play. the funny thing is that he expresses his love for me in a way that i least expect it. as for aiden, he's mr. perfect, but lately he has been too busy and if he's too absorb in something, he can't hear. it's funny, but he can win your heart over with things he says. he has a heart that cares and i am so proud that he's my oldest son. my little evan .... he's attached to me and can't even stop saying mama. he treats me differently than papa. if papa says to lay down, he lays down. if i say to lay down, he pouts and i pick him up. i always give in to my little man. i guess that's what mama do best.

love my boys. xoxo.

[day 16] evan + godmother meow

my sister is 20 weeks pregnant and asked me to do a quick photo shoot for her. it's her first baby and she wants to do a gender announcement tomorrow. i already know what she's having and am beyond ecstatic for baby's arrival this summer! in the midst of it all, i was able to capture a few photos of evan with his godmother meow. he always loved her, but never followed her until recently. now, he reaches out to her when he sees her. it's a miracle. 

overall, it was a quiet sunday for us. dylan is sick. we spent the rest of the evening at home together. it's nice to be home sometimes since we're never home. it was a nice change for once.

love my boys. xoxo

[day 15] safe haven

i love books. i wished we had a bigger house. i asked my husband if he could fulfill my wish one day. i want a house where i could have one room dedicated to crafts and another one to filled with endless bookshelves filled with books. it's my dream! wouldn't it be awesome?  i somehow managed to stay awake at night to finish this book. it took me exactly one week, which is slow for this type of book, but it was all the time i had. amidst all the craziness of life, i've always made a point of craving out reading time, when i can, because, i would go crazy without it (it's almost as bad as cleaning).

anyways, my husband purchased a nicholas spark book called "safe haven" for me to read since he was in love with the movie. i told him i wouldn't see it unless i read the book because the movie always omits all the details. i've read a few of nicholas sparks books. sparks has a way to describe love in a very simple way. i was captivated by the plot and the more i read, i kept craving for more. although, i thought it would be predictable, the ending really surprised me and was unexpected. it made me cry. even though this book is not going to win any literary awards, it was very heart warming. 

i hope my boys buy me books in the future as gifts or just because. it's my way to relax and take time for myself. seriously though, what better way is it to curl up to a good book? 

love my boys. xoxo.