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143 091

September 1, 2010

15 years ago to date, a boy asked a girl to be his girlfriend.

Gone are the days of talking on the phone until 4am (those days were replaced with 3AM feedings last year). Root beer floats and banana cream pies were replaced with protein shakes and Costco rotisserie chicken. Pager codes are replaced by IM and text messaging. Yogi’s and nickel arcades have been replaced by PS3 and the Wii. We’ve grown out of Street Fighter, Duke Nukem, Unreal Tournament and competing at Angry Birds now.

Even with all those changes, one thing remains the same (very apparent by our recent Cupcake Throwdown). We are still the goofiest couple I know.

143 091

Cupcake Throwdown

It all started with a sweet offer:

Wife craving cupcakes but didn’t feel like baking. Sweet husband offers to bake cupcakes. Wife laughed at this offer. Husband remarked that his cupcakes are better than wife. Wife says, Game on…

We decided to bake up four dozen cupcakes for close family and friends and let them be the judge of whose cupcakes are better. The judging was based off: taste, moistness, frosting and creativity. We baked two categories of cupcakes to go head to head: one classic flavor and one couture (or “It’s My Prerogative”).

Mike took a few weeks to finally decide on his flavors (with the support and encouragement of his all-male carpool buddies). Classic will be a play off the Hostess cupcake which he coined as the Fauxtess. His couture cupcake is a churro cupcake with dulce de leche and vanilla Swiss Meringue buttercream.

FauxtessChurro Cupcake
Fauxtess cupcake (left) & Churro cupcake (right)

I decided on doing a coconut cupcake for classic called the Haupia cupcake. Haupia is a Hawaiian dessert that I fell in love with when we went to Maui a few months ago. The Haupia cupcake is a coconut cupcake filled with haupia filling and whipped cream topping. I decided this challenge will be a good opportunity to try it. For my fancy-schmancy cupcake, I went with a spumoni cup which was half cherry batter and half chocolate batter with a pistachio Swiss meringue buttercream. I have to confess I came up with this idea to win Bao’s vote. Hahaha.

Spumoni Cupcake
Haupia cupcake (left) & Spumoni cupcake (right)

So last Sunday we threw it down. Before he had even ONE cupcake in the oven, Mike turns and says to me, “I’m already tired.” Oh, he’s a goner. LOL. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely be doing it again. I had so much fun tasting and working WITH Mike on our recipes. We stayed up all night baking and tasting each others cupcakes.

All the cupcakes were delicious. I have to admit when I ate that churro cupcake, I thought it was over for me. It was definitely something I want to eat again. But at the end, the baker beat out the family chef with the haupia cupcake…coconut cupcake won of all things!

So Frustrated You Can Laugh?

August 25, 2010

You heard the phrase, “so funny I could cry” but have you ever been so frustrated you also wanted to cry?…how about laugh? that’s what happened to me last night.

I had what we coined a “Code Red” at home last night and nobody was there to help me. When the babies were infants, and we’d have a situation where we would need ‘back up’ (usually both of them crying, one threw up and the other is crying, etc) we would yell out “CODE RED” and between Bao, Mike and I, two out of three will run up stairs…sometimes all three. So last night’s code red involved a very upset Aidan screaming for “Daddy, Daddy” (who isn’t home) waking up her super sleepy and frustrated sister who started to cry which resulted in a pool of vomit all over her crib…bumper and all.

As all seasoned mothers know, every situation can easily be remedied with a plan.

PLAN ONE | Bath both kids, Clean crib, put them back into bed.
I picked Brooke up to console her to stop the crying that will hopefully stop the vomiting (so naturally there is vomit all over me as well). I tried to put her in the tub (Aidan is still screaming in his crib, by the way) but she just won’t let go of me. So I take off all her clothes and my shirt as well. (So let me quickly paint a picture: Brooke is in diapers, I’m in a sports bra and shorts and Aidan is a snotty mess from all his nonstop crying.) I left their bathroom and go back into their room. I thought, “Maybe if I bathe them both, they’ll calm down.”

Mommy to Kids: “Do you guys want to take a bath?”
Both: “No…..”
Mommy: “Do you want to play with the wah wah?”
Both: “No….”
(New plan formulates in head)
Mommy: “Do you want to watch Hot Dog?”
Both: *Nods head Yes*

PLAN TWO | Let kids watch TV, clean crib, bathe Brooke downstairs in sink
I carried both kids downstairs and turned the TiVO on for Mickey Mouseclub (AKA Hot Dog). I went back up stairs took the laundry out of the dryer. Put the stuff in the washer into the dryer and broke down the bedding on her crib, bumper and all. I put all the dirty stuff, including her pajamas and my shirt into the laundry and went back into the room to put the clean bedding in. Every few minutes Aidan will let out a scream if disapproval that I’m not downstairs with them. I’ll just yell back at him “Wait, Aidan! Can you say wait?” Aidan: “wait”. I finally finish dressing her crib, went to the bathroom to pick up the shampoo, a towel, new pajamas, a wash cloth and went downstairs…one more thing and I’m done. (Or so I thought)

INSULT TO INJURY & PLAN THREE | Plan two PLUS clean up more vomit.
Just as I was getting a grip of the situation, I was halfway down the stairs and I hear Pepper regurgitating. “Oh no!” I ran down the stairs but was too late. Pepper threw up a giant hairball on the carpet! I was at a lost and so frustrated and just about to cry when she started to regurgitate again. I don’t know how I had the strength to do it but I lifted her up and carried her to the tile where she threw up a second time. I was just about to cry when I hear on the other side of the room Aidan’s little voice, “Ewwww…” I just had to laugh. I laughed so hard and said to him, “Ew is right! You all are ew.” Both Aidan and Brooke laughed at my statement and I went on to clean up dog vomit, bathe a smelly child in the sink smiling the entire time. It’s amazing how one simple statement from a 1 1/2 year old can make something that felt like such a crisis into an every day trivial event.

I have to say it was a rough night, Mike came home around 11pm and help me put them into bed. I also went to bed but my mood before bed was of pure humbled joy from my little boy’s “Ew”.

Brooke
Bathing in the sink and pointing at Mommy

Camarillo…we are not friends.

August 24, 2010

My good friend, Aysha, and her family are moving to Camarillo next week. We had our first playdate with all our kids. Hopefully not our last even though it will be more difficult to get together now. I didn’t even take a picture with her! Too busy snapping away at the kids but I did get one cute photo with baby Leilana, who is gorgeous and such a good baby.

Park fun photos:
LeilanaMe and my girl
Aidan basketball posebasketball with daddy

We will miss you, Baltas!

SNEI’s LA office first annual family summer PARTY!

August 23, 2010

Yankee Doodle
Over the weekend, we attended Mike’s company first annual family summer party at Yankee Doodle in Santa Monica. It was fun for the kids and big kid too. He enjoyed some nonoffice hours playing pool and air hockey with his colleagues while the kids and I hung out on 3rd street promenade. Aidan even because a street performer attracting a crowd with his dancing!
aidan pool ballsbrooke and mom
aidan's performance
Daddy shooting pool.

San Francisco

August 18, 2010

Lam family in San Francisco

SATURDAY: We decided a few months back that it’s time we visited our good friend, Anne Eurose and her family. We woke up at 3am on Saturday morning and was on the road by 3:40am. Brooke wasn’t too happy about this but Aidan woke up alert and naming all the things he sees (Stars! Moon! Light!). They were both up until 4am and fell asleep until 7:30am. We stopped at Harris Ranch for the exotic McDonald’s breakfast, changed the kids out of their PJs and were on our way. On the road, the kids amused themselves with ‘trees’ and ‘mooooos’ (aka cows). We didn’t really need to use the DVD player until the last hour of our drive.

We reached Tracy around 10:30am and Mike took a nap while Eurose and I entertain our kids. They LOVED their Ate Eurose’s house. I have since they coined it as “Abris Daycare”. Completely stocked from a beautiful yard with a playground and toy cars/bikes to a toy room downstairs (of course, well organized). They were super comfortable there. Brooke kept asking to go outside. Once outside, she wanted to go in to watch Nemo. We had lunch and George came by to visit and we caught up and talked about old times until the kids’ nap time. Around 1:30-2pm we left Tracy to continue our adventure to San Francisco.
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Aidan’s New Do

August 11, 2010

Mike cut Aidan’s hair again…and again, he was a teary, snotty mess. I can hear him screaming “Mommmy!!! Mommmy!!!” the entire time. (It’s just a haircut, son.)

The plan: Use the #2 guide for the sides and #4 on top…just a trim.
What actually happened: Mike forgot the #2 guide and ended up zeroing the side of Aidan head! After that, the entire hair cut was just, “How can I fix this!”

Good thing for Mike Aidan has a cute head shape, because it turned out okay. Perfect for summer! =P

Aidan's six-head

I

DiSC Results: Peacemaker

August 9, 2010

Work asked us all to take the DiSC assessment and here are my results (I’m boring). I took something like this back in my Smarthome days and I don’t remember what I was assessed to be, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “Peacemaker” which just means I’ve changed. For the better or worse? Not sure, just changed. I’m a lot older now and my priorities are definitely different from what they were back then. Either way, it’s pretty accurate of how I feel these days..about work at least!

Peacemaker

Thi values close, personal relationships, and she will often put the needs and desires of those who are loyal friends ahead of her own needs. She is an even-paced individual who thrives in a peaceful, harmonious environment. Thi will work to avoid conflict and sudden changes in her lifestyle and finds joy in keeping tradition.

Systematic and detailed, Thi focuses on the process. Others see her as practical and logical. She tends to be sensitive to criticism, but prefers to internalize her emotions rather than expose them. Thi likes to clarify expectations before undertaking new projects, because she works hard to meet the standards that are set for her.

Thi prefers a rational and moderate approach when first entering new situations and tries to avoid extremes. She likes the company of others, but Thi is equally comfortable spending a quiet evening alone. She is a realist who will always weigh her options before she makes a decision to move ahead.

Because she cares about how others feel, Thi may feel uncomfortable making decisions that strongly affect others. She typically encourages others to be involved in the decision making process and prefers to work in a team role. Others tend to see Thi as agreeable and humble.

Let Them Eat Cake!

August 7, 2010

Eating cake
…or wear it. :)

Circus with the kids

August 4, 2010

I love my job! On Tuesday, all the bosses told me to take the day off to take my kids to the circus…completely free, on them…and in the Orange County Register suite at the Honda Center! We even got reserved parking. It was so much fun. The kids loved it, Mike loved it and the Nguyen sisters were able to join us as well. I never been to the circus and it’s not the greatest thing I’ve ever been to but the happy faces on my kids (and husband…and mother in law…lol) was priceless.

Four tickets to the Circus!
Aidan modeling the tickets.

Amazing hat trick
Amazing hat tricks…

Aidan's parents gone mad...
This is where I went crazy…