blessed new year

It's been quite a ride already and we're just in the second week of the New Year. I am filled with a wealth emotions right now. Thanks to my husband for letting me be evil and still snuggling with me in bed and telling me that I'm smokin...even though I am far from it.

This week, I learned that I was given the biggest raise that I have ever received. I work for a not-for-profit so it's not huge, but it's nice. I also learned that I was one of the people in our department that was given a little extra boost of a raise to acknowledge my hard work in 2007.

However, with this raise, I found that I am already knee-deep and very stressed out at work and I don't see relief anytime soon. In addition, there are a few things that I am handling on the home and personal front as well.

It's funny, two people have already asked me if I am mad at them because I've been short with my responses to them. Sorry peeps...not mad, just buried. So now, I am nervous because I just started getting my life back in order and fighting the victim mentality that sometimes creeps into the cracks of my brain. I am tired, frustrated, and stressed out. I was afraid it was going to bust at the seams.

And then I took a breath and realized, I'm not really that important. Nothing that I do is not something that every other working mom/wife does. I just need to get through the short term demands, plan for the obvious and realize that there are lots of things that might pop up. The up will eventually come down...smile...it'll make me feel better. If anyone has any other tips, I sure would like to hear it.

On a lighter and happier note, my mom will be visiting from Laos in a couple of weeks. I haven't seen her since their 35th wedding anniversary last (that's 2006) November so I am excited to go home and really be home. Even at this age, Mom is still home. My dad could not accompany her this time. :(

the tease

Last Tuesday, when we returned to Chicagoland, the weather was below freezing. Sitting in our broken down car, waiting for the tow truck, I was lucky to have my ball of fire child warming my lap. We probably had close to one foot of snow on the ground, some of it fresh from the frigid night before.

Fast forward to yesterday, we had 60+ degrees. It was overcast and sprinkled sporadically, but it was such a tease. Later this week, we're supposed to get at least a dusting again.

We took advantage of the nice weather and took our first trip to the Botanical Gardens. It's such a beautiful place. With our membership to the Morton Arboretum, we get in free here as well. I can't wait until Spring to return. We couldn't go until after nap, so we had a very short time with light. They still had all of their holiday lights up. It felt like Arizona again.

Boys being boys:

Starting to get too dark

For some reason, I really love this picture:


One of my new favorites. I wish the people on the left weren't so obvious. I guess I could try to clone them out or something. I hate over Photoshopping though.

resolution

I had the best intentions to post a detailed summary, but now I think highlights is all that is needed...after all, it's 2000 freakin 8 now!

We met up with my siblings at my oldest sister's house the Friday before Xmas. My parents are still overseas doing mission work. They were truly missed. We all went sledding in the foggy darkness. I haven't done it since I was little. It was so much fun. Roan absolutely loved it! My heart skipped a few times seeing him go down the hill by his little lonesome, but Choua was close by...running. It's moments like this that make me feel so warm and happy inside. I'm sure a big darn smile is planted on my face too. I'll post pictures up, I promise...the fog was amazing!

My siblings and I (except Paul) spent Xmas Eve Eve at the airport. The weather was bad so we wanted to make sure we saw our littlest sister off to her new hometown. We just sat around, drinking hot chocolate on the floor and chatting and laughing until she finally had to board her plane.

My sisters and me:

The siblings, spouses (except my SIL, Phoua,--she's 9 months preggo and couldn't make the long trip), and grandchildren.

I couldn't resist including this picture. After opening presents on Xmas morning. My littlest niece, Aleah, wanted to put on my next littlest niece, Ayden's, new fancy straight from the Hmong flea market sandals on. Look at her sassy stance.


It looks really bad because I didn't take many more pictures after we left my siblings. There was too much random sickness afterwards though.

We headed to the Dells to meet Choua's family at the Kalahari. It was sweet! I saw a movie with my in-laws and Choua and I made Xmas dinner. It takes a long time to make a big and varied dinner, when you only have a few pots and pans to use.

Next, we headed up to the Twin Cities and just lounged until we took Roan to the ER due to "something he caught from the Dells" said the ER Pediatrician. On the day we were to return, Choua got sick so I drove and didn't realize we had lost power steering. I'm dumb...I hardly drive his car and I just thought that maybe his car was more physical than mine. Plus, on the interstate, you don't turn much so I didn't really notice it until we stopped for gas.

Needles to say, we had to spend the night in Rockford. We risked it the next day because apparently no rental cars or car mechanics are open in Rockford on New Year's day. We were about 15 miles from our house, when the car finally died. We had it towed and Roan liked riding on my my lap in the big truck.

It was such a wonderful time even though we didn't go anywhere warm or did anything exceptional. It was one of my favorite holiday season ever. I feel like I got my family back. I feel hopeful and happy. I also got the opportunity to get closer to Choua's family and that is really important to me.

I don't really do NY resolutions, but I feel like this is going to be a wonderful year, personally and professionally. I can't wait to start living again.

belated happy holidays

I have been MIA since before Xmas and in the pre-holiday rush, I didn't have a chance to post prior to being sure that everyone who was meant to receive one, got one. Here are our holiday cards:

favorite thing

About a month ago, Roan decided that it was fun to throw things down our stairs. I don't know if he likes the way they look going down the stairs or if it's just an extension of his love for messiness and disorder (like his father of course), but he does it often. Usually, it's from the top of stairs down from his bedroom. However, on this particular night, he decided that maybe the downstairs stairs might be just as fun. ...shall we experiment?

C'mon Buz...

Uh oh...as if it were an accident.

Mommy says, "Go get Buz," so off he goes.

BTW...these are the same steps he tumbled down when he was just nine months old. Unless you are a parent and this has happened to you, you will never know the feeling you get when you hear, thump, thump, thump, a pause, and then a loud wail. We came running over to see him laying spread eagle, face up on the cement at the bottom of these very stairs. We learned very quickly that the door must always be shut.

Coming back up.

Again?

On a sweet note, I have finally made some sort of money on a photo-related project. The best thing about it is that it was completely a surprise! Thank you so much! As I am still skill building/serious hobbyist, I am not doing any of this for money right now so it's such a nice treat. I'm still in the red when it comes to photography, but the feeling I get when someone gets teary-eyed over their photos makes it worth it to me...though my husband disagrees.

weekend fun

We had a fun weekend. Roan is getting to that age where he really wants to do stuff for himself. I am trying to take advantage of this by teaching him early that washing dishes after every meal...AND...cleaning up after yourself is very important!


He kept telling me to "Stay!", which is his way of telling me to not interfere with him. He washed these two sippy cups for like 10 minutes.


Roan and I saw "Enchanted" on Saturday morning. The theatre opens at 10a and so we try to go at that time, in case, he can't sit still. He was great! We packed snacks and his blankie and he only got up twice to walk down the aisle. When I told him to come back though, he did. I was really surprised.

We spent Saturday night at our friend's house. After a delicious dinner, we played poker. In the midst of playing, Roan and Matthew, ran into the room and shouted, "Ta Da!" I think it must be a little boy thing because if you read my blog regularly, you'll see that Roan and his cousin, Ethan also love running around without their shirts on. All of the kids played so well together and Roan was in heaven, with the toys and all of the attention.

This was the scene at the end of the night. They were chillin, watching "Transformers".

And...the best part of the night, we went home winners! That's actually Choua's winnings. I only went home with $5 more than what I started with. It just felt good to finally have some sort of a clue about what I was doing.

1st accumulated snow

Today I was supposed to take the afternoon off to go Xmas shopping, but I had some last minute work to do so I didn't. I think I am procrastinating because I have no idea what to get. My family does Secret Santa for the adults so I only have one chance to get it right.

Roan and I had the chance this morning to go out and enjoy the first accumulated snow of the year. He didn't want to go out at first because he loves staying home with me, but I coaxed him outside. Once he got out there though, he acted like he was at the beach! He rolled around in the snow and even put his face in it. He kept throwing it up in the air as well, like water.

Then I hard time getting him to go to daycare. Even M&M's didn't work. I felt so bad though, I haven't even bought him new winter boots yet. I guess I'll need to use my coupons to get him a good pair since it seems he'll spend a lot of time in the snow this year.

Oh...yes...and BTW...I finally ordered by holiday cards! Yay! Can't wait!

Below: When we first got outside. He had this silly little grin the whole time!

Jumping...he didn't get much air.


In a matter of seconds the sun moved this morning. I thought it was pretty amazing.


Yes...he is trying to eat the snow.

Ah...to be a child again!