Easter Day

I promise this is the last posting for anything Easter related!  I know there's been a lot but all of it so precious that I had to post!  Plus again, this is my little journal of our memories too since I'm so behind on my scrapbooking I'll never catch up!  Easter Day has finally arrived but boy has there been a lot of stuff prior to it!  I hope you enjoy seeing our fun filled day with friends and family! 

We woke up and all headed downstairs.  Makayla wrote to the Easter Bunny a nice little note and sure enough he brought her and Mylee a few nice baskets and goodies!  Can you tell how happy and excited Makayla is!  Big arms out and all!

Our M&M girls are so happy!  Looks like lots of baskets already!

Enjoying some of their goodies with Daddy already!  Is it too early for chocolate this morning?

Mylee's 1st Easter celebration!  Her lil basket and goodies were so cute and she was happy shaking it all up!

After the joy of the baskets, Makayla went to find what else the Easter Bunny hid in the back yard for her.....looks like another egg hunt just for her.  

Click on the play button to see her exclusive egg hunt.  She was so cute shaking them all up.  And she was great about getting some eggs for her little sister's basket too.

Hmmmm, what did I get in them??  She's cracking them all open now!  Looks like some goods for their piggy banks!  Boy the Easter Bunny sure was good to my girls this year!  They must've behaved!  After the busy morning we got ready and headed to church for their Easter Sunday service.  It was our first time to visit a new church near us.  We were really comfortable and both girls did great!  I didn't want to put them in the daycare since it was our 1st service at this new church.  They did great and we'll be back for sure since the pastor gave a good message to our family!

After church we headed over to our friends house The Arnold's for an Easter lunch.  It was potluck style but Stacy made a lot on her own and it was all delicious!  Honeybaked ham and lots of yummy salads, danishes, dips, cake etc. etc.!  Then the kids all got to do an egg hunt in the backyard.  While hunting away they got a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny himself! What a treat!  Makayla was a little cautious but okay for a few pictures with him.  

We got in a family photo with the bunny too!  So much fun!  Mylee was okay with him too!

The girls opening up their goodies!  Lots of fun stuff for Easter!  They all had so much fun together!  Thanks Stace for having us all over!  It was a blast!  Another tradition you've started for us with these get togethers!  First it was Santa at your house now the Bunny???  What's next?  So much to look forward to!

After The Arnold's house the girls both crashed in the car.  They were tired!  So when we got home that gave me some time to get our colored eggs peeled and cleaned to make some deviled eggs out of them for our family to come over for dinner.  The girls want to see their Grandparents, Auntie and Uncle today!

We even made this cool bunny cake that Grandma Jennie gave us the recipe for.  It was so much fun for us to decorate!  Look at my two little bunnies!  Makayla had lot of fun putting the coconut on the outside of the bunny so it looked like fur.  And then she put the jelly beans on the bow tie.  It was sure a good looking bunny!  Turned out a lot bigger then I expected too!

Marcy, Som's mom came to celebrate Easter with us too!  She enjoyed the day out at Pechanga with the Arakaki's while Alan & Som were at Disneyland with some friends visiting from Thailand also.  Lots of people here for their wedding to come!

Boy, still one more basket to open!  This was from Auntie Janai & Uncle Binh since they couldn't be with us today.  They both usually work on Easter.  Boo!  She loved her gift Auntie! She is ready to scrapbook with me even more now that she's got her own little mini tool organizer tote!  Plus jammies and all kinds of other little goodies!  You guys always do too much!

Mylee was really excited about her baskets too!  Thank you to everyone since I think my girls each got at least 4-5 baskets each from everyone today!  They are very loved as you can tell!

We also got to meet some new cousins tonight!  This is Maya and Luu!  My parents invited them over so that we could meet them.  Maya is my Dad's 2nd cousin.  Her father that just recently passed suddenly is my Dad's cousin.  She moved here from Sweden and met this nice guy Luu who she's marrying!  It was so great to meet them both!  What wonderful couple and we hope to see them again soon!  They too brought both of my girls an Easter basket! Everyone was just too generous!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Mia's 4th Birthday Party

It's Mia's 4th birthday party today.  It was a Little Mermaid themed party at their house.  They had a big bounce house in their backyard and a bunch of fun games and activities for the kids.  

Here's Mylee and little Logan, Mia's lil brother.  He's actually a pretty big boy and so cute!  He's such a little man!  It was so cute, they were grunting and making noises at each other.  Baby talk!

Just playing in the backyard.  Makayla riding the blue pup.

They had this cool swing for Mylee!  She loooovvvveed it!  Wheeeeee!!

It's lunch time!  The birthday girl's gonna start it off!

The cutie trio!  The two Ariel's, Rachee & Mia, and then Makayla.  We didn't have an Ariel costume so she just wore a dress.  The girls always have so much fun!  This is after all the games, bounce house and pinata!  Happy Birthday Mia and thanks for the invite!

HB Central Park Egg Hunt

We headed out the Central Park this morning for a little Easter egg hunt event they have every year.  We went a few years ago but couldn't make it last year for some reason.  Makayla's friend Jordan wanted to go so we decided to meet up with them.  It's fun for maybe an hour or so since there's not much to do.  Some booths to see, some games to play and then time for the candy hunt.  

Of course the first thing Makayla saw when we got there was face painting.  Her favorite thing for awhile now.  She's getting a pretty little flower on her cheek.

Makayla and Mommy walking around to all the little booths to check out the goodies or more junk for our house!

Mylee is super happy out here today!  Lots of stuff going on and lots of stuff for her to see!  She had fun too just chillin' in her stroller.

Look at those lips!  Kisses Daddy!

It's donut time!  Yummy!

My M&M girls!  Always too cute!

A video clip of some games that Makayla played.  They gave some pretty good prizes out early in the morning!  Since we played these same games again when Jordan came out and most of the good toys were gone!  Makayla got fun bracelets and things!

Oh her friend Jordan is finally here!  Makayla wanted to stand in line to see and sit in the tractor?  I think that's what it was. Some big boy thing.  Weird, but okay.  Her friend Jordan decided to drive it with her too!  These two girls are going to be trouble!  They are best buds!

Two peas in a pod!

It's egg hunt time, or really candy hunt time.  At first they didn't get very much since we were towards the back of the pack for their age group.  It was like a vacuum and when you're towards the back you get nothing!  But good thing we stuck around because they started scattering more and more candy all around.  Just enough to make the girls happy to get something.  Funny thing is Makayla was kind of picky with her candy.  She only picked up certain ones.  Mostly smarties and no taffy! haha!  No time for being picky or the other kids will just snag it all up!  She didn't care!

Click on the play button to see what good time the girls had!  Jumpin' up and down!  Pretty good morning for us!  Now it's time to head to Mia's 4th birthday!  

Coloring Eggs

It's time to dye some eggs and decorate them tonight!  Easter seems to be quite a busy holiday for us now that we have kids.  It kind of feels almost like Christmas with all the stuff we do beforehand to prepare for Easter Day!  All so much fun though with all the traditions we're creating for our family!  Today was another special occasion on top of that.  We get to meet Som's mom all the way from Thailand!  It's going to be so exciting and nice to finally meet her!

Makayla helped me make some cupcakes today and now she's decorating them.  She loves to do this and is such a big help!

Click on the play button again. She's got something to tell you while she's decorating.  She told me to tape her.

Here's Marcy, Som's mom!  She is such a nice lady!  She reminded me a lot of my mom.  We're so happy that we finally get to meet her and that Alan & Som's big wedding day is next week!  It's approaching sooooo quickly!  She was so sweet to bring everyone a little something all the way from Thailand.  The guys all got really nice silk ties.  She got all the moms a nice handmade purse that was woven by what I think is bamboo.  Whatever it was it was super nice and I can't believe it was handmade.  She got my girls each a very pretty gold bracelet that had a lotus leaves on them.  Makayla loves it and is wearing it already!  Thank you so much Marcy, it was too much but we all appreciated it!  So glad you're here with us!

The Dad's having dinner and some beers together.  I got some take out from a few Vietnamese restaurants so Marcy could try some of it.  I even think I got some things that the Arakaki's haven't even tried yet and they live here!  Everyone enjoyed it!

All the Moms at dinner!  Jennie, my mom and Marcy.

Now that we're done with dinner, it's time to color the eggs!  The girls are soooo excited!  Rachee, Makayla's friend came over to do this with her.  Her cousins were also coming but not sure what happened but their plans changed and they couldn't anymore.  Oh well, they still had lots of fun!  Look at my hands, they're all green!

Rachee is over the whole decorating eggs and is now onto dessert and being a fireman!

The girls!  Stace, Som and me! We had fun decorating with the girls too!  Easter is almost here!  Thank goodness since I'm sure you're all tired of seeing Easter events in our blog! haha!

Avenue Q

As part of our Broadway series show package at the OCPA center we got to see Avenue Q tonight.  We didn't really know much about it but heard okay things.  We enjoyed ourselves.  It was pretty funny and definitely a puppet show for adults.  We got some laughs in for sure!

Easter Bunny Pictures

The big Easter Bunny Day!  I had the day off for an event at Makayla's school and we had some time still afterwards to take the girls to Fashion Island to see the Easter Bunny.  It was a beautiful day out to walk around the outdoor mall.  Makayla was excited to go.......

Little Mylee went first since Makayla is now hesitant.  She got a little squirmy but we managed to get one descent photo.  I don't think I tortured her too much! haha!

Makayla decided to join her lil sis but wouldn't sit on the Bunny's lap.  She just stood next to him and wasn't that happy.  Oh well, we tried!

After the bunny we headed to the carousel, but on the way there we had to stop at the Koi fish pond.  Makayla loves watching the fish and the birdies all around.  

Mylee now does too!  Makayla's got her cool coloring book from the Easter Bunny.  It was a nice one!

Next, was the carousel ride!  Funny that she chose the bunny to ride on when she didn't want to be close to the bunny a few minutes ago.  That girl!

She just looked so pretty with the fountain behind her in her Easter dress that I had to post this picture!

My mom joined me today to help out with the girls since she just loves to shop at Fashion Island too!  Sweet picture of them and their Grandma (Ba Ngoai)! We had such a fun day today!

Preschool Egg Hunt & Easter Party

Today was Makayla's Easter party and egg hunt at her preschool.  I went this time solo since Ry couldn't make it.  It was a cute little gathering!  Their room is so cute and Makayla is always so excited when I come to visit and to see all her projects!  The school does a great job with all their events and activities!

Here they are singing a little bunny song for all the parents!  It was just darling!  Don't forget to press the play button to hear it!  There's a few video clips in this blog post.

This is a little prayer they do before they eat.  Good stuff! 

We had to take a pictures of all these little Easter baggies that Makayla and I made for all the kids in her class.  Grandma's also helped with this project.  It was so much fun!  We found it in a little Easter craft book that Grandma Jennie got from the library.  So many fun crafts out there for all occasions!  Easypeazy too!

It's snack time!  They had grapes, carrots, string cheese and a big treat....an Easter cookie!  It was a cute little chick covered in yummy yellow sprinkles!  Yummerz!

The table with all the kiddos gathered around.  It's decorated so nice for them!

Here they come for their egg hunt!  Press play again here!  Gotta love their baggies!  We're so proud of them!

And she's off hunting for those eggs.  She was an absolute pro climbing on the tables and all!  You had to fend for yourselves with all the little boys here!  She held her own and filled up that baggie quick!

Jordan and Makayla are going to share what's in their eggs now!   They are really two peas in a pod!  What a fun little school event!  Glad I got to participate!

Irvine Park Eggstravaganza

We headed out to Orange today to check out the Irvine Park Eggstravaganza!  Yes, Irvine Park in Orange.  It was a nice day to spend at the park and it wasn't too crowded at all.  

My M&M Girls!

Makayla is so excited while waiting in line with Daddy to get her face painted.  One of her favorite things to do!

She wanted a butterfly on her face and this lady did a nice job!  Makayla is one happy camper and sat so nicely for the lady.  She's a pro at it now!

All aboard!  We're on the choo choo train for a nice ride around the park.  Mylee loved looking at everything and really enjoyed the ride.

It's time for the egg hunt now!  I think she's going to be a pro at this too!  Boy we're getting some practice in before the real day....Easter!

I gotta say it's quite the small world!  I bumped into my old roommate Helen Kim when I went to UC Riverside years ago.  She's now married to Tony Lee which is a high school sweetheart that she dated when living with me.  It was good to see her again.  We'll try to keep in touch a bit now.  She's got two son's both around the ages of my girls.  They were too cute!  We had fun hanging out with them.

Ry took a video clip of her egg hunting away.  It was so cute!  Press the play button in the middle of the clip to view.

After all that she still had the energy to ride the hayride.  She just went with Ry alone.  I had to sit and feed Mylee.  It was getting hot and she was getting tired.  She got a little fussy on me but we managed and waited for them to come back.  Once they did Makayla was finally tired.  We headed back to the car and back home.  Both girls fell asleep right away!  We had such a fun day at the Eggstravaganza! Thanks for telling us about it Grandma Jennie!

Seal Beach 5K

Today is the Seal Beach 5k Race to raise funds and awareness for recreation programs, services, and facilities in the greater Seal Beach community.  Also for support in cancer too.  This is my very 1st 5k run that I've been actually training for.  Ever since I started boot camp, I've also been running with Liz!  She's been a great inspiration to me to get going with all this exercise!  I actually love it! 

The sign, you know I'm a scapper when I start taking pictures of just signs.

Here's the crew I recruited to do this with me.  They are my scrappin' crew since that's where we're going right after the race until the late evening!  From left to right, my sis-in-law Janai, her mama Lucy, me and then Beth.  They signed up for the walk and did great!  I'm so happy that they came out to do this with me!

We bumped into Tara who ran it with me!  Then along the way we bumped into Liz and her hubby.  Surprised we ran into everyone without really calling or having a meeting place.  Amazing since I think there were over 4,000 people out for this race!  Well it was awesome since I got to run with Tara and Liz the whole way!  We did great!  We all finished right next to each other with a time of 31:01.2 which averages out to a 10 minute mile!  So proud of us!  Can't wait for the next one!  Now off to scrapbooking we go!