Sleepless Weekend

Friday...

I tried to get our house ready for our guests on Sunday. I was also busying myself packing my scrapping tools, papers and embellishments for the all-night scrapbooking with one of my bff's. I think I have too much "scrapping scraps" than I need and it has always been a little more time-consuming getting ready when I have a "creative weekend" with my "creative bff". So, we left the house an hour after P got home from work. Krisha, (my bff) already made dinner for all of us. The drive was only about 40 minutes north of us. So it was not one of those long drives we don't like to take... yes, we prefer flying than driving! When we got to their house, Cy and Izzy officially started their own party!!! Laughing, jumping, hugging, running, pushing each other, hugging again, apologizing, grabbing each others toys... all in 30 minutes! And the grown ups had a wonderful dinner... Filipino and American food side by side on the table! It was Paul's first attempt to eat a bowl of Mongo beans with Ampalaya tops soup. It wasn't very successful! I ended up eating most of what he had in his bowl... plus my two bowls of it. Also, Krisha and I tried to have our husbands eat gizzards... and they did! And, of course, we didn't tell them what they were before they ate them.

After that big big supper, Krisha and I began working on our scrapbook pages while our hubbies cleaned up and baby sat our little ones. We scrapbooked until 4 am. It was Izzy's first time to go to bed without mommy on her side. The 7-hour scrapbooking time flew so fast! We didn't actually want to stop at that point but we had to get at least a few hours of sleep before we went shopping and more scrapping.

Saturday...
P and Krisha's hubby made breakfast. It was P's first time making banana pancakes... well, the first breakfast he made for me. So, that was sweet of him. Krisha and I ate our breakfast and off went shopping. We bought identical outfits for us. They're the second identical outfits we ever got for ourselves. Yeah, we think it's fun to wear the same outfits. We ended up wearing them for the whole day. When our husbands saw us dressed up the same, they went nuts. They couldn't stop laughing. The rest of the day was spent on scrapping and roasting marshmallows in their backyard. We didn't home until 10 pm.

Sunday...
I was teaching Sunday School for the pre-schoolers at our church in the morning, took a long nap in the afternoon and went with Izzy to P's softball game. We came home around 9:30pm and met our guests. They got to our place while we were in P's game. It's wonderful to meet the wife and son of one of the Mongolian consuls to the Americas, Middle East and Africa.

Mongolian Friends

Last week, we had three Mongolian kids at our house. One flew here all the way from Massachusetts to spend the holidays with us. The other two live closer to us- one goes to school in Duluth and the other one works for an auditing firm in Minneapolis. All three of them are in their early 20's. And all three of them are gifted with extraordinary brains! Each has at least 3.50 GPA! Talking about intelligence! Imagine if Orgil was here too! But we are proud to say... P AND I BEAT THEM ALL IN SCRABBLE! Ha ha ha!

December Madness-Izzy's Christmas cookies

Izzy and I were making cookies with our friends on the first Sunday of this month. It was our little girl's first cookie decorating experience. I really thought she would overdose herself with the sugar frosting but to my surprise, she wasn't really interested in eating the cookies. She was more excited in helping me and our friends make the dough and decorate the cookies with colorful frosting. I was so happy that I didn't have to worry that she had too much sugar in her system. I am also happy that she has learned that "too sweet" is bad for her. I was teaching her this phrase the past year. When she would ask me for sweet treats, I would give her a little bit and would always tell her that she couldn't have more than what I gave her because "too sweet" is bad! It worked. She has memorized this line and understand what it means.

December Madness-Cookie Exchange

Wow! It's been like forever since I last blogged this month. My sister has been complaining about having nothing new to read in my blog. Life, for us, has been abnormal this past couple weeks. Our house has been a mess from the ongoing tiling project on our hard floors. But life has gone on... happily, celebrating the Christmas season. Two weeks ago, I participated in a cookie exchange event with the ladies from our church. My entry were my famous Oatmeal-Raisin Vanishing Cookies. I made 10 dozen of them in exchange for 10 dozens of different cookies that the ladies made. It was so much fun to collect many different kinds of cookies! Too bad I was so busy that day that I didn't even remember taking pictures of them. They were so pretty and yummy! I gave a dozen of different kinds to each of our neighbors in our circle together with the chocolate fudge I made with my friend Tricia on the first Sunday of this month.

The week before the cookie exchange event, I couldn't use my kitchen because it was being tiled. So I had to make my cookies at my friend's house, our next door neighbor. It turned out to be a wonderful time to spend with my friend from Somalia. We both stayed up until midnight to finish making the cookies. We had great conversations that included subjects about Jesus, the Bible and her Koran. It's exciting to know that we both are now comfortable talking about our different faiths. I am so thrilled to think of our friendship that is obviously being blessed by the Lord!

Fireproof

I gave Fireproof a standing O after it made me cry at the Atlantis movie theater the other night. It was quite a movie. It was nice to finally go to this huge movie theater just 5 minutes away from us. We saw it built and was hoping we could see what's inside the building. My husband and I don't watch a lot of movies. We can't stand the garbage talk in Hollywood movies. All those cursing and the vain use of God's name are just disgusting to us. For three years, we have only been to the movie theater a few times. That's for the Chronicles of the Narnia, One Night with the King, Horton (Izzy's first big screen experience), Facing the Giants and those documentary movies. Besides, we thought that going to movies is a little too much when we have a few televisions at home. I don't see it romantic for me and Paul to go to the movies for our dates. But with Fireproof, watching a movie became a perfect date for us and our friends, Jeff and Tricia. We had Jeff and Tricia's daughter, Angel, baby sat Isabelle while the four of us cried together and fell in love with our spouses all over again.

Fireproof is the second movie of the Kendrick Brothers, who also made the Facing the Giants. You would never think it was not a Hollywood produced movie because it was very well made- excellent casting, great script and the overall cinematography was not bad at all. More importantly, it was God-centered! The movie is about what many of the American marriages is going through today- on the brink of divorce. Kirk Cameron, the Hollywood actor turned Evangelist, and Erin Bethea played the role of a normal working couple in the movie. Their problem was as common as what all other normal marriages is going through- wife feeling unloved and husband feeling disrespected. Cameron took on the role as a captain of a firefighting team. Everyday, he directs his team as together they save lives from the fire. He thought of himself as an honorable man and so thought his wife was nuts for not giving him the same respect. Bethea played the role of Cameron's wife, who is so disgusted with her husband's addiction to pornography and not helping her do things around the house. Her husband's appetite for pornography has made her feel so unattractive and unloved. She filed for divorce. He thought he had enough of her "unbelievable" attitude and that divorce will give him peace. Before the divorce was finalized, he eventually learned how to love.

This movie is so full of emotions. Kirk Cameron's acting was definitely plausible. In the movie he was supposed to kiss Erin Bethea, but he wouldn't kiss any woman except his own wife. So they had to have his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, do the extra scene. Nobody could tell that it was a different woman he kissed even though Noble and Bethea don't look alike. I've seen Noble in one of the Left Behind movies. She is also an outstanding actress. Apparently, Cameron didn't want her to play the role of his wife in Fireproof because he didn't want to yell or despise her even in the movie.

The movie came 4th in the box office on its first week of release. One the second week, it came 8th. It garnered more than 12 million dollars within 2 weeks.

Go and watch this movie, if you haven't yet. Be blessed and fall in love with your spouse all over again.

Here's the movie trailer... have fun!

Scenic Sunday

I took this photo of Mr. Deer, Mrs. Deer and Baby Deer, Oh, dear! on our recent vacation .

Scenic Sunday

Samara Point Resort, Niswa, Minnesota

Scenic Sunday

An afternoon at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Twenty minutes drive from us.

Scenic Sunday

Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata, MN. The shore of this lake is great for afternoon walks.

Scenic Sunday

The creek by the pavilion of Hidden Park in Savage, MN, USA. I took this yesterday on our church picnic.

Scenic Sunday

Of me and my friend, Tricia, at a park in Bloomington, MN, USA.

Scenic Sunday

We were out biking up at the bridge above Fort Snelling in the cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN) this afternoon and saw this beauty. I thought it's perfect for Scenic Sunday. Here you go, Aisha, my very first entry.

Baby Bump

Got this tag from Lalaine. Thanks dear!

Rule:
1. Copy from ::Start:: through ::End::.
2. Add your blog to the list.
3. Tag your friends. You don’t need to be tagged in order to join. Feel free to join the fun.
4. Don’t forget to let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE so I can add you to the Pretty Momma LIST.
5. Come back regularly to update your master list! You never know? This might help improve your ranking!

Pretty Preggy Momma’s

1.Fun|Fierce|Fabulous 2.Me,Myself+2 3.Confessions of a Supermodel Wannabe 4. Momiespace 5.Because Life Is Fun 6.Bits and Pieces 7.The Shopaholic in Me 8.When Silence Speaks 9.Everything About Deye 10. Etc Atbp 11.VanityKit 12.MindBubbles 13.Stripe&Yellow 14.Something Purple 15.Em’s Detour 16.Living the Healthy Life 17.Juls Random Thoughts 18.Thea is bloggerhappy 19.Thea is berry scrappy too 20.BigMoneyList 21. Me and Mine 22. Creative in Me 23. Little Peanut 24. Pea in a Pod 25. Sugar Magnolias 26. kathycot 27. buhaymisis 28. whenmomspeaks29. Changing Lanes 30. Pit Stop 31. Life is What we Make it 32. Dancing in Midlife Tune 33. Life’s Questions 34. Photoblog 35. 100% Kelly 36. PinayWAHM 37. Teacher’s Corner 38. Simple Life, Simply Me 39. Porangag 40. Belly, Baby and Beyond 41. Simple Life, Simply Me 42. Bisdak’s Footprints 43. my little home 42. Lalaine's World 43. YOUR BLOG(s)

Well, as for tagging this one, I'm not sure because I don't know anyone else who was once pregnant and has been blogging now, except for Janet and Bernadeth. Here you go, Jan and Bern.

Esther

I've been blessed to be able to watch a very bright 5-year-old girl a few times a week the past few months. Her name is Esther. She is the daughter of one of our friends from church. Esther's family moved from Vietnam to live here many years ago. She was born here. Her mom is a psychiatrist and is working at the hospital like crazy on odd hours shifts. One morning, she told me that her dad quit. When asked what it means, she would say, "Well, daddy yelled at my mom a lot and one day he quit." I asked her if she misses him, she said "Oh, yes I miss daddy but mommy is enough for now."

Esther speaks two languages and is fluent in both. She is a very good girl. She follows every instruction I give her. She eats everything I provide for her. She never complains. She is such a great influence to little Izzy. She also provides a very fun playmate for her. They get along very well. With Esther at our house, I discover a lot of sweetness in Izzy's personality. It is such a breath of fresh air watching little Izzy give Esther hugs and kisses from time to time. Her sweetest personality shows when she comes very close to Esther and looks at her eyes and speaks words that cannot be understood but you would know she adores her.

We will miss her. She won't be coming to our house a lot this summer because her big sister will be home to watch her now that she has a vacation from school. But Belle and I are looking forward to see her at church every Sunday morning. Oh, by the way, we've been calling Isabelle Belle more the past few months. Paul says, Belle flower a lot. I like the name Belle because it means "beautiful" in French.

Baby born in the car!

Yes, Jo Brooklyn Treuenfels was born in my friend's car. Remember my post in March about the baby shower I coordinated for my friend, Maricris? Well, she had her baby in the car while driving to the hospital. It was unexpected because she came out two weeks before the due date. It was a very fast delivery, according to her. She held the baby and, of course, waited until they got to the hospital to cut the cord.

Both Maricris and baby Jo are very healthy.

New Friends

Rokio and her family moved to our neighborhood about a year and a half ago. Their house is next to ours. They are originally from Somalia, but they've been living in the US for 10 years now. When they bought the house, Paul, Isabelle and I visited and welcomed them to our neighborhood. Rokio and her husband, Saadiq, have two very cute children. The older one, Kamal, is 6 and the little one, Naima, is 3. Paul and Sadiq have become good friends. Sadiq had been pushing Rokio to be close to me, she told me just this past week. We have become really good friends. I visit them at their house almost twice a week and we often go shopping together and bringing our kids to play at the Mall of America or at Pump It Up. Rokio is "religious "and a very generous woman. She smiles a lot and her personality is very pleasant. She is a genuine person! Last week, when we had to admit Paul in the ER due to food poisoning, she drove us to the hospital being that I don't have a driver's license yet. Helping is a lifestyle to her. It's been great getting to know her and showing her the T and freedom we have in the LJC. I'm glad that she is a very open person. We talk about "anything" including our different beliefs. I can't wait for the "big day". Join me in telling the LJC about my new dear friend.

Isabelle and Naima at the Mall of America
Isabelle has been a positive influence to Naima in the area of eating well. See, my daughter eats well. She snacks on carrots, strawberries, grapes, apples, bananas and just about any fruit. When Naima sees her eat fruit and veggies, she also wants to eat them. Rokio told me that it has been difficult to make Naima eat. Isabelle is preaching by example. Makes her mommy feel so proud of her!

Kamal, Naima and Isabelle at Pump It Up
It was a good bonding time for the three of them. After that morning when they played there, Isabelle says "Naima" a thousand times. Kamal and Naima love Izzy too. They can't stop screaming and jumping when they see her. They hug and kiss her a lot until Izzy goes crazy and says, "top!" (her way of saying "stop!") Izzy always feels sad and sometimes cries when it's time to say bye bye to Kamal and Naima.

Baby Shower for friend Maricris

I had a great time putting together a baby shower party for a Filipino close friend, Maricris. We had the party at our house on March 9, 2008. Our other Filipino close friends also came and brought our favorite Filipino food to help make the day special for Maricris and Tom. They are having their first baby girl, so I thought it would be super cute to have "pink" at the dining area. Take a look at the video of photos we took that day!