I'm a zumbie!

Last weekend this is how I spent most of my time:

Chilling in a hammock with my sister!
This week I didn't get to chillax as much. I went to a black-and-white-back-to-school-zumba party!

My friend asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to go. Of course I said YES!!! I have been going to Zumba classes for the last 3 1/2 years, twice a week and it makes me happy and keeps me sane. I loved planning my black and white outfit and the charity aspect of the event really appealed to me as well. We had a blast!!! I want to go to another Zumba party =)

Happy belated Eid

Eid day came and went without much fanfare this year. I was unable to get the morning off from work. My husband dressed the kids up and they said Eid prayers together.

Then he sent me this picture. 

See how he tried to make me feel included by taking the photo with me picture in the corner. He's so sweet, but I still felt sad. My sister felt bad for me too so she planned a visit to celebrate Eid with us this weekend. It wasn't exactly a traditional celebration! Here was our Eid meal - Tehari, shrimp curry, BBQ chicken and liver curry. 

For dessert we had grilled pineapples.

This year instead of toys or money we got the kids a giant wading pool.

They loved it!

We loved it too!

The water looked so tempting on a hot day that we could resist getting in on the wading pool action.

We spent the whole day in the yard, chilling in the hammock watching the kids laugh and play. My nephew hatched a plan which he sketched out for the other kids. He erased it when he noticed me watching him. 

I asked my son what it was about but I got silence and this face:

I still don't know what mischief they got up to!

The kids were so tired they fell asleep before I could read them a bedtime story. Now my husband and I are lying  in the hammock, waiting for the stars to come out. I hope to see some shooting stars - my wish hasn't come true yet!

How we roll

We decided to clean our house last weekend. It was a family affair.

My daughter was the dusting fairy hence the fancy headband in her hair whilst cleaning.

My son loves to vacuum. Sucking up dirt is like being a superhero catching the bad guys. It works for me =)

My son also loves making beds. Not only did he make his bed

He made his sisters.

And ours - he spread both our blankets - mommy's side and daddy's side. Little does he know, we really sleep together in the middle.

Speaking of my bedmate...here he is at his sexiest - I love a man who knows his way around a sponge.

I know what we did last weekend

My mother always says that as you grow older, time goes faster. It's her own version of the theory of relativity. Apparently there is some truth to her theory. My life is a prime example. I meant to post this last weekend but my week has gone by in a blur. I am also trying to live my life more purposefully and often I find myself having to choose between recording our lives for posterity or living my life. Some times there is no choice, there are so many demands on my attention that I can't find a moment to sit down and write down my favorite memories.

Here are my favorite moments from last weekend:

The kids last day at storybook garden camp was pajama day. My son participated in a show and my daughter hung out with a princess.

My kids were pooped from their week at the camp so naturally I had to stop at the nearest supermarket to buy them ice cream popsicles.

They had a second wind of energy so that when they got home, they helped clean up.

My son had an outdoor movie night with his friends. My friend, who hosted the night is the most creative person I know! The kids had a blast and the grown ups did too!

Next my daughter went to pick her teddy bear angie up from a stuffie sleep over at the library.

It was the cutest thing, the librarian had a slide show of what the stuffies got up to in the night. Angie read some books and hung out with the other animals.

Lastly we got a call from the Library to let us know that the kids had won a prize for participating in the summer reading program!!!

How awesome is that! I loved the library when I was growing up and I am glad that my kids are starting to love their library too!!!

Chalk and chuckles

Our patio was an art gallery today.

I like to call this first exhibit a "rewards for a hard working mommy"


He created this masterpiece upside down. My favorite part about it - his crossed out Y - he wasn't happy with it so he just crossed it out and wrote it again - so first grade I love it!

This next piece is called "make a wish"

Shortly after I took this picture my daughter turned her star into a shooting star and made a wish on it. She wont tell me her wish because then it wont come true.

This is something I drew titled white sands - a nod to my favorite beach growing up in the Philippines.


We ended our day in the backyard chilling in the hammock. My husband attempted to take a selfie of himself. PS - that's his finger trying to reach the iphone button.

That's right I photobombed him!!!!! It was revenge for this:

We almost fell of the hammock laughing! Then I made him take a picture of the two of us.

It reminded me of one of the first pictures we took as a couple.

OMG we were so young!

Next I forced him to take a family shot. We might be getting too big to pile up on him for a picture. He's smiling through the pain in this one =).

After we put the kids to bed, my husband and I went back out on the hammock and watched the stars. We saw six shooting stars! I made the same wish 6 times. I wont tell you what it is because I really want it to come true!

Scary Spider Saga

Before I get into this story I have to tell you a little bit about where I grew up. In the Philippines and Bangladesh, the two places where I spent most of my formative years, insects are not cute little harmless things you have in North America. In these tropical countries, insects grow to be much larger than their North American cousins. Ants are the size of grains of rice, cockroaches grow as big as your big toe, and I have seen more than one centipede the size of a human forearm. Also they are not afraid of humans. In fact I have been attacked by many a cockroach. They fly at you and land on you and crawl on you. So yes I am afraid of insects.

I was afraid of a rather largish spider my son found in our computer room. My daughter felt empathy for the creature (a byproduct of the many outdoor walks her kindergarten class went on) and wouldn't allow my son to squash it. "It's nature!" she exclaimed. I stayed my son and instead found a more compassionate way of getting rid of the spider. We chased it around the room until we caught it in a Tupperware.

We then walked to the park and met a nice gentleman who had brought his grandchildren to the park.

He was kind enough to set the spider free. The children were so happy ,I was happy to have the spider banished from our house, I'm sure the spider was happy to be back where it belonged and we all lived happily ever after!

It's not about the destination but the journey

Once upon a time in a far away land a beautiful princess, who loved city living,was given a very difficult task...she had to go walk through the forest to make her family happy. The princess prepared for this journey by putting on some protective sun gear and applying sunscreen and set off with her faithful companions - her sister, husband, children, nephew, niece and brother in law.



At first it was quite perilous and the princess and her entourage had to clamber up hills and scale down steep slopes.

But still they persevered. The path was littered with formidable obstacles like this creature:

(HINT - look at the garter snake on the log) And yet the brave little group journeyed through the forest. But then they came upon a place where the trees embraced them.

The only sound they could hear was the chirping of the birds and the beating of their hearts. A sense of peace came over the little group and they knew that experiencing this peace, not their destination is why they ventured into the forest that day. The princess was happy but tired. Her trusty husband came to her aid.

She and her band of merry family members emerged victoriously from the forest that day.

The end!