this year’s crew potluck christmas party was hosted by robbie and jenny! our contribution this year was ham (by mel) and mini cupcakes (by moi). on the agenda, kids secret santa and then a white elephant gift exchange. as usual, we grubbed as soon as we got there and immediately got into “comfort food” mode since it was hecka freezing outside! the guys did their best to warm up via grey goose..hahaha!

(1) our hosts, jenny and robbie; (2) the guys getting their shots on; (3) edwin showing us what they were drinking out of!

i guess this was the guys’ turn to get f—– up…hahaha…the funniest part was they were taking shots from spongebob squarepants mini cups…HAHAHA that pretty much set the mood for the whole night and carried over into A LOT of laughing during the white elephant gift exchange! lots of stealing went on as well as neil throwing out the famous “cousin art” comment pertaining to a cuisinart hand blender that chester eventually lost to edwin…awww, sorry chet!

(1) chet saying bye to “cousin art”; (2) nate-dog and tobester showing some love during secret santa; (3) allie and mik saying their thank you’s during secret santa

the kids had a great time with the secret santa gift exchange! too cute watching how much these kids have changed every year! lots of love and laughter! too cute! as the evening ended, we decided to take “prom pics” in front of the tree! i’ll have to upload them on here another time or you can check them out on my facebook profile. happy holidays!

we had intended on having a quiet 4th of july and were just going to swing by robbie and jenny’s house for a bit to help them move a few things. we arrived close to noon i think and left close to midnight! hahaha by the time we arrived, a lot had been done already since they started the day before. it seemed like it was only the little things left but having moved 4 times myself i should have known it’s moving the little things that take longer than you think! while ramel was helping robbie, martie and jenny, i stayed at the rental with doll to help watch the kids.

the kids decided to go swimming and tobey really wanted to get in the water so i let him. he started by sitting down and just getting his feet wet. then he started walking on the step that runs across the 4 ft end of the pool. while he was doing a thought entered my mind - what if he misses the step and accidentally falls in…he is 40 inches tall while the pool was 48 inches deep. and of course just as i thought it, it happened. everything happened so quickly but yet seemed like it was going very slow. as he was waving his arms in the air trying to stay afloat, i looked around to see if any of the other kids would grab for him to pull his head above water. no one really did, probably out of sheer shock at what we were seeing so without even thinking i jumped in to pull his head above water. it was probably literally 5 seconds of watching him before i realized what was going on and jumped in. luckily it was 4 feet deep otherwise someone would have had to come in and pull me out too hahahha! he wasn’t freaked out, he was more confused kind of wondering “hmm, how did that happen?” and i realized i was in denim shorts, a t-shirt, watch and jewelry on when i jumped in. we just cracked up because i was soaking wet just standing there trying to get dry!

i watched tobey and he seemed a little hesitant to go back into the 4ft side and opted to stay in the jacuzzi side. when i was little, a similar thing happened to me and since then i’ve been afraid to step in a pool deeper than my height. not wanting the same thing for my child, i jumped back in fully clothed to encourage him to get back into the water to try swimming around. he was a little scared at first but jumped back in anyway as we practiced floating and kicks and just trying to get him more comfortable with the water. i know he won’t forget what happened because he now says that he doesn’t want to go back to kuya paolo’s house for awhile hahhahah. i told him he didn’t always have to go into the pool everytime he goes back there and that we will slowly get back into the water to get him comfortable again.

i went home to change and when i got back they had talked about BBQing for dinner. neil and rowena had arrived as well to pick up some things jenny was passing on to them and for some more help for robbie. we ended up staying for dinner, watching the fireworks from their backyard and literally shooting the s— for the next few hours until we realized it was 1130pm! hahahaha so much for our quiet and simple 4th - spontaneous gatherings are the best!

this has been quite the day in the planning! it gets harder and harder to plan events with each other since family life and parties consume all of our schedules. the day started with lunch at paesano’s, an italian restaurant with a simple but tastefully packed menu! we chose the following: salami and cheese sandwich, stromboli calzone, gorgonzola and fuji apples pizza and various salads - talk about full *burp*…hahaha dessert was a no brainer - chocolate torte…YUM!!!

we all headed to the spa for our treatments…massages and facials! talk about a relaxing day! we were also treated to a couple of surprises as our friends announced they were pregnant!

as if the day couldn’t fly any faster, we headed to a high school graduation party for my cousin’s daughter, rachel. after a jaw dropping entrance into their 3,800 sq ft house, we stayed a bit to munch on the usual flip grub and dessert then headed home to pack for our vacation, which was to begin the next day! talk about last minute everything!

my sister in law, venus and i had dinner with a good friend recently. being as it was friday during lent, we opted for a restaurant that could serve something other than just meat…so we went to chili’s..hahaha! jenny and venus hadn’t seen each other in awhile so it was great that we could chat it up a bit at the restaurant. dinner was yummy…i had the salmon and boy, did i clear my plate! we ended up having dessert at jen’s house since she had to go pick up katie-kate.

we were suppose to only stay a little while for dessert but ended up tsismissing for about 3 hours! well what do you expect when 3 women get together, no hubbies around and 2 kids that kept themselves somewhat entertained while we talked. we left about 11pm i think because jen had class the next morning. venus spent the night at our house and we ended up talking until almost 4 am..lots of topics to cover! poor thing had work the next morning…she says she was fine but totally crashed later that night! getting older sucks…i spent the whole weekend trying to catch up on lost sleep!

this weekend was all about birthdays!

one of our closest and dearest friends, robbie, celebrated his 40th birthday! i know that sounds old but he still looks like a teenager so you can’t even tell…hahaha. his wife, jenny, decided to plan a last minute get together to surprise her dear hubby. it was a gathering of a few family members and close friends at their house. the menu was yummy and as usual the company was great! happy birthday robbie!

the next celebration was for our twin nieces, jocelyn and jennalyn’s 3rd birthday! princess theme, all the cousins together, lots of food and gifts made for a fun time at my brother in law and sister in law’s place! the kids ran all over the place non stop! it was no surprise that our little one was asleep the minute we hit the road!

tj has been so good lately that we decided to reward him with a trip to the zoo! since hubby didn’t want to drive through numberous freeways to get to the sf zoo he suggested the sacramento zoo. those that know me know when i ask for a recommendation on something, i’m not a big fan of the reply “it’s cool, you’ll like it” or “you should check it out they have a lot of stuff there”…uh ok, like what stuff?!? (other than animals of course for all you smart a—- hahaha) being as we’ve never been to that particular one, we asked our dear friends cathy and chester for recommendations since they frequent this one often. we knew we were going to get a detailed enough response so we definitely asked the right people!

they decided to join us for our trek so we met up at their house and went on our way. it was a beautiful day..the sun was out and it wasn’t chilly at all. the kids were excited…we saw birds, giraffes, apes, monkeys, chimpanzees, snakes, zebras, flamingoes, lions, tigers, jaguars, etc…definitely lots to see! chester even had a hero moment where he rescued a little girl’s stuffed animal that had fallen into the panda exhibit. all in all it was a great visit, so much so that we will be back (at least 2 more times) to recoup the membership we purchase..hehehe tobey couldn’t stop talking about it!

on our way back we stopped off to see little bro and family…little nephew just turned 1! we hung out for a bit, grubbed on some nachos and pizza and watched a movie. we then headed back to chester and cathy’s to hang out some more (we never get sick of doing that it seems hahahaha) and more grub..i swear i’m glad i wore sweats that day! after a long and tiring day (more from the eating than the zoo..hahaha) we headed home! it was a pretty quiet ride home…my boys were out!

pics: (1) group pic; (2) soo close; (3) this was a big a– orangutang; (4) the kiddos with their flamingo impression

we started off our 2008 crew outings with a dinner at thanh long restaurant in san francisco for the january birthday celebrants — mel, olga and jenny! unfortunately, jenny was not able to make it due to scheduling conflicts with robbie’s work our trek started off in an interesting manner as we hit traffic on EVERY freeway that we took to get to the city! we were about 20 minutes late for our reservation which was ironic considering i was the one that kept reminding people to be on time! hahaha. we tried the new GPS system that edwin gave us for christmas…it was pretty cool! we were even extra prepared because we had JP(S) in our car as well..that’s jess!

after we all trickled into the restaurant, our group of 10 was seated upstairs. it was a little weird for some of us to not have our kids there but we quickly became accustomed to it! fred and chester had had a couple of drinks already before we got there so they were slightly buzzed already with chester hyping up the lychee something or other drink…i can’t remember the name. we were all hecka hungry so it didn’t take us long to go through the menu and decide on what we wanted! CRAB! that’s what thanh long is known for! this time mel and i were a little smarter about ordering, we split a crab instead of ordering separate ones (we had tons of leftovers last time). it was funny because as soon as the food came, our table got really quiet…i guess we were all very hungry!

after a very fulfilling dinner, we had dessert…a cake provided and lovingly baked by cathy. it was very yummy… we must have had a chocolate tooth that night (when don’t we ever have one?) so we decided to go to ghirardelli square for more dessert!

highlights from the evening?
* fred saying “now i know why they call it roast crap” just after coming back from the rest room…hahaha
* the look on ramel and jess’s face when wena and i came out of the bathroom together
* even better…the look on their faces when we told them they should just go into the women’s restroom since no one was in there so they wouldn’t have to wait
* neil saying they were late because they were trying to find a safeway to buy a gift for the celebrants (does sf have safeways? hahaha)
* edwin freaking out when jess walked up beside him with a beanie on and edwin going “who the f— is this guy?”
* the lady with the “man face” that was undoubtedly an escort for the man she was with at ghirardelli
* even better…chester getting caught by the lady with the “man face” as he was staring at her and making comments
* the funky dude behind the ice cream counter that was too afraid to call out customer numbers
* even better….chester’s thick shake order being remade by the funky dude behind the ice cream counter…what did he do to make the shake thicker? he put in extra scoops of ice cream and more milk! HAHAHA what’s so funny you ask? uh…he didn’t use a blender the whole time!
* neil’s reply on the phone when his brother asked what he was doing…”oh you know i’m just here with some friends…we’re just laughing” hahahha
* me and cathy’s trip to the bathroom with the “looks like granite, but it’s not exactly granite” countertops….when we sat to do our thing, our knees and noses practically touched the door…they were SMALL stalls!

and the most priceless moment?

* our group of friends seated in an area where i don’t think we were allowed to sit to begin with, just talking about anything that came to mind, no matter how dumb or stupid sounding…thick shake, love trap, serial killer in san jose, etc. didn’t matter what the topic was, lots of laughter and fun…it was nice hanging out…looking forward to more nights like that!

our group christmas party was held at our house this year…given that it was our first christmas in our new house, we were excited to have everyone over…21 kids and 21 adults! (well 16 kids and 18 adults–we were missing a few) the day started off kind of crazy as mel and i tried to clean as much as we could before everyone arrived…no such luck…hahaha…

it was no surprise that our first guest arrived 30 minutes early…it was jess and the girls! he had arrived early to prepare appetizers before our 3pm start time…he even brought his own toaster oven, obviously anticipating that our oven would already be in use. regina, lonnell and malcolm arrived shortly after as they had another party they needed to go to later that evening. it turned out to be a blessing that these two arrived early as they helped with prepping the appetizers and getting started on the drinks as mel, tobey and i finished getting ready! it wasn’t long before everyone else trickled in…children, gifts and potluck items in tow. we did a quick group prayer and it was time to grub!

this year also marked the first secret santa gift exchange for the kiddos…thanks to chester who organized it. the gift exchange was cute as the kids handed out their gifts. as the kids were handing them out i noticed that all of us had just been standing, hovering over them taking pictures…it kinda cracked me up because we looked like a group of people checking out a fight or something hahaha…shortly after, the kids went back to playing upstairs.

for the adults we usually do a white elephant gift exchange. i ended up with a cool 6-pc serving set and mel ended up with chocolates and some “movies” that the guys wanted “copied and distributed”…i swear, this group is too close…hahaha

the rest of the night was filled with more food, drinks and laughter as we played a few games for both the adults and kids. okay i think i may have gone a little crazy with the prizes as i heard a couple of people say…”ooh, it’s like oprah’s favorite things!” hey, what can i say, i love seeing smiles on people’s faces!

the best part of the night? just hanging out around the table or tv, talking and catching up on life…:) mel, tobey and i had a great time hosting this year’s 9th annual holiday potluck! we are very thankful for this group and hope that this tradition of getting together continues throughout our lifetime!

i’ll post more pics when i can…

taken at edison and jenn’s baby shower earlier this year, the object of the game was to see who could juggle a baby and chores at the same time not to mention the fastest as well. all the guys happened to play this game and edwin caught jess and ramel’s turn…hahahaha! you have to watch it til the end…it was hecka funny!

hi there folks!

we’re looking forward to seeing everyone for the crew christmas party! even more excited because this will be our first christmas in our new house and what better way to celebrate our first with our closest and dearest family and friends! it will be on SATURDAY, 12/29/07 at 3:00 p.m. you will be receiving an invitation shortly in the mail…why?…well, just cause…hehehe.

for you boozers….hehehehe…please feel free to bring anything you’d like to share. we do have some wine at home but since ramel and i aren’t experts on the topic, we’re not sure what’s good or not…hahaha

for you culinary ones…please note that it will be a potluck so please reply by “adding a comment” to this post and indicating what you would like to bring. i will continually update this post as i get the list and you can refer to it if you need a reminder on what people are bringing…:)

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A FEW REMINDERS
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* KIDS SECRET SANTA GIFT EXCHANGE
- you should have received the name of your child(ren)’s secret santa via email
- gift minumum $20 - gift maximum $30
- please refer to the email from www.secretsanta.com for any wish list items

* WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE
- please bring a gift if you’d like to participate
- gift value between $20-$25 max
- we will draw numbers at the party

* OTHER INFO
- each of the party invites that we sent out has a number that is circled on the back…please make note of the number or bring your invitation (in case you think you may forget the number). your number may be called during the party….

- i know some of you are leaving early and some are coming a little later, both due to other commitmens…hopefully we will have some overlap so that all the kids can be present for the gift exchange

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POTLUCK LIST - last updated Wednesday, 12/28/07 at 12:50 am
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* FLORES — prime rib or roast beef, herb chicken (since I didn’t kill anyone with my 1st attempt thought I’d make it), caesar salad, misc appetizers and of course there will be a few “something chocolate” here and there…:P

also for those that have asked, we are providing the plates, cups, utensils, napkins, etc as well as drinks for the kids, soda and water. if you would still like to bring additional drinks, you are always welcome to bring those…we can never have enough beverages right?

* VILLANUEVA — shrimp balls

* GRINNELL — any special requests? Meatballs, mushrooms? etc (* elle - “can i say YES to both..hahaha…jk..MEATBALLS please!) (* mike - Meatballs it is then! Can’t wait to eat a few of them too! Did someone say Goose and berry juice???!!! Nice, although wine does sound good too… Hmm… We’ll just have to see! Can’t wait to eat drink and be merry!)

* LABUCAY — manhattan clam chowder with garlic cheese bread

* G & LONNELL — 1 bartender (Lonnell) + 1 bottle of Grey Goose + 1 bottle of Cran = Holiday Cheer, great pictures, and priceless memories! =) Might bring some corn bread and brownies too.

* NICOLAS — Shrimp balls…meatballs….should we bring cowballs? We’ll bring salmon and possibly a trifle dessert….and yes a bottle of wine. Changed our minds on the salmon…so much food will be there…i’ll make snacks to go with the drinking brie and either spinach dip or crab mold.

* JESS — My crab, egg and rice dish — Wine or other form of liquor. In addition to my crab, egg and rice dish, i’ll also be bringing some heat and serve appetizers; i’ll still also bring at least a bottle of wine as well.

* ESPANOLA — We’ll bring pasta salad and wine……I’ll pass on the Grey Goose & Cran this year, I’m sure Elle & Ramel will appreciate that. I want to be smiling in the pictures not sleeping..hehehe.

* DE LOS SANTOS — So much food… should I bring fruits and non-alcoholic beverages (sodas, fruit juice and water)? Or any suggestion? (*elle - fruits would be great! we are already providing the sodas, juice and water…:))

* DANDOY — We’ll bring tamarind fish and probably a side or dessert.

* EDWIN — Leche flan and Toron.