Carole's 7th Birthday.

Carole invited her whole class to her party at our house. Surprisingly most of them showed up, some even with their little brothers & sisters.
I was glad we had bought a huge cake from COSTCO or we wouldn't have had enough.
The kids all brought lots of cute little presents & Carole was busy helping to serve everyone. The kids had fun decorating their own cake slices with toppings & sprinkles, chocolates, etc.
Here is Carole's new bike that Daddy got for her birthday.

Pictures of Carole

A little flash back....

Today is Carole's birthday so I thought I'd write about the day she was born.

Julie had arrived from Europe a few days before my due date to help me with the baby. And "why", you may ask, "does a new mom need help with a baby when it's her first child"? Well, the reason is the band volunteered me to sing for the many booked Christmas shows knowing full well that I would still be a post pardum mom. (--And they were cunning too because I had no experience with this, & couldn't flatly refuse like I would have if I'd had a baby before. "What!!! You want me to sing a rock song while I'm wearing a dozen 'napkins' & my face is still puffy & none of mine or even my husband's clothes fit me? Are you out of your mind?")

Anyway come my due date, I hadn't started any contractions & I was determined to not have an overdue baby (impatience being my middle name). SOLUTION: Being the true women we are, Juls & I hit the town for a full day of shopping. We got stuff for the baby, but not really because I didn't know if it was going to be a girl or a boy, & we got stuff for us & a few warm clothes for Julie. I remember being kind of worried that I would suddenly give birth on the bus or at the mall having not really noticed that I was having contractions for all the strenuous walking we were doing.

I WAS WRONG!!! When labor starts, YOU REALLY KNOW. A contraction is definitely an unmistakable thing.
I started my contractions early the next morning at around 5:00am. I guess we ended up at the clinic at around 2pm with A.Claire & my friend Sunny who was there to "assist" with the birth.
Sunny shows up with a nice little lunch bag (for her) with all these goodies like Camembert cheese & crackers & juices & sat there eating them talking about how delicious they were while I was starving (because you can't eat when you're in labor or YOU WILL THROW UP!!) & I was staring at all the little dots on the ceiling going "fhu, fhu, fhu, fhu, fhuuuuuuuuuu (repeat ad nauseam)" or what ever kind of breathing came to mind.

Sunny was quite talkative it kept my mind off of the hours & hours of labor & in retrospect, I think it is better having a very talkative friend with you that no one at all, like with Leila's birth. I especially appreciate her perfect comment about my thigh's --what every fat (pregnant) mom loves to hear--" WOW! Your legs really got huge, didn't they?" HAHA! (Sunny knows I love her.)

Anyway, Julie & Mac came later, they had to bring some things I needed from the house & my pillow because I'm sorry but I do not like Japanese bean pillows. When they finally arrived I was almost a ready to push. When Mac came in I was so embarrassed about the physical "state" I was in & the strange screams coming out of my mouth so I told him to wait in the hall. Julie was there & it must've been pretty traumatizing because afterward she said she didn't really want to have a baby for a long time.

Baby was coming out but the doctor wasn't around & the nurse had to have him present for the delivery of the head because of some law or something. She kept ringing him to get his arse up stairs & was actually holding the baby's head in while we waited. Finally he casually strolls in & out comes the baby GIRL!
Mac came in & looked at the baby while the placenta came out after which Mac loudly said "liver, anyone?" Eyuw!
She was so cute, & her eyes reminded me of Mac's & she was so quiet & still. She looked around all evening & the rest of the night too, not sleeping much.

A few days later we brought her home & she was our little Christmas bundle of Love & we were so mushy & googoogaga over her.

Janis Joplin?

We found Leila dressed like this one day while playing.

Halloween

Carole as Pocahontas, Leila as a princess & Kiki as Snow White

Happy Birthday Ambie

Ok, so I'm glad I'm all the way in Japan & she's all the way over in Texas so I won't be killed for posting this picture.

There's this huge mall by Disney Land & this poster of Ambie is up all over the place advertising their wedding dresses & stuff. I could only take a quick shot with my mobile & there's a glare from the glass frame, but she looks quite pretty.

Anyway, I just wanted to say happy birthday to a wonderful friend, photographer, singer & artist.
Hope you are happy & have a cool year.

I've had nothing to write about in my blog. Everything's been normal, slow, predictable. I've been realizing that I actually hate cleaning my house. I put it off until I can't stand the mess any longer & by then, it's huge deal to clean up. Or worse, I wait until Mac can't stand the mess & then he cleans it up with a big high horse attitude. Hehe. (Poor guy!)
I don't want to make schedules or lists because it reminds me of when we were growing up, you know, the "JJT" chart. Do grown-ups actually need lists. (Me being the grown-up in this case.)
Mom loves 'em & I know several people who have to write everything down & have tons of lists or they forget everything. I wonder if dependence on lists makes your memory even worse than it already is.

Kiki's modeling job

I forgot to tell you all that Kiki had her first job filming on location for 2 days up in the mountains. The video will be shown at a fashion show at the beginning of a collection. I'll post some photos when we get them. She was very good on camera & even though the shoots were in the middle of the night in the freezing cold, she was fine & everyone was real impressed.
Daddy was there & they stayed at a inn in the mountains. The crew gave her lots of presents & candy & she got a little spoiled.
Kiki said she wants to spend her money on going to Disney Land. The rest we will put into the kids school fund. (For College)

Oldness

You can tell you are getting old when you wake up in the morning & can't even bend over & put on your socks without feeling it in your back. When you body hurts not because you did something strenuous but because you are just living & then it takes weeks to get over those body pains like a sore neck from singing. Argh! --I will be an invalid at 40.
I started yoga. Actually I only did it once --yesterday-- & it felt good but it was kind of boring. You can also tell you're getting old when you have to exercise to survive. Whoops, I'm missing yoga just to write this & it's only on TV twice a day & the first time is six am. (No thank you)
So Namaste to you all. I can't believe I actually have to exercise now that I'm an old lady.

Some pictures from the other day

Nothing

And Another Birthday Girl...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LIZA.
Thanks for your friendship & for calling me the other day. I miss you & hope to see you sometime in the near future.

Love you.

Happy Birthday Angie

Angie is so pretty. I love this picture because it captures Angie's beautiful soft side.
Happy Birthday Ang, I love you & wish you a happy year.

Take care of yourself,

And express yourself.

Keep singing writing & learning.

I'm like DEAD!!!

Well we did our show the other day. About 15,000 people. Uh-huh. I kid you not. I managed to sing ok but not perfect, of course, because I was a little nervous & because I'm me & I don't do perfect. But anyway, it was cool singing lead with "True Spirit", a group of four African American singers, as backing vocalists (Amazing voices. Jeal Jeal). Sorry I don't have pictures, mom, & as it turned out I didn't have to sing the Anthem, so I got off that hook.
Anyway the day after the show I sang at weddings & then went straight to Michael's to sing for his CD project. I was away from the kids for four days.
And now I'm home & I'm like I said, --Dead! And drinking ginger tea.

Photo shoot

Here are the girls getting ready for photo taking. Carole is pretending to be Jafar from "Aladdin" in the top photo. But that's how she looks when she's mad at me.