Christmas Gatherings 2008

After a week after Caitlin's birthday party, we came back up to the peninsula. We had a great time staying with YeYe, MaMa, and Rica for Christmas Day. We got to exchange gifts and just bond as a family for two days in a row. The following day, Eugene, Caitlin and I spent the couple of hours in San Bruno with my side of the family with my parents and siblings for lunch at the Ming's Restuarant. Then on Saturday, we went out for lunch in San Mateo to catch up with our college friends. Everyone who had kids brought their babies. Yesterday night, we had dinner at Applebee's in San Jose with Eugene's mentor and friend and his wife. It was nice since we're all busy teaching during the semester. During the day time, Eugene's parents came down and took us out for dim sums for our birthdays, since we're all Capricorns. =) Caitlin loved all the attention on her the whole time. It was a very busy week for us, and Caitlin is totally exhausted right now. We're finally back at home relaxing and running small errands.

Caitlin's 1st Birthday Bash

Caitlin had her first birthday party last weekend. It was a lot fun. Eugene and I were able to catch up with our family and friends. We had about 40 guests, which included children and babies. Caitlin had a great time just hanging out with other kidos. She really enjoyed hanging out with Rachel and Alyssa jie jie. We can tell that Caitlin can not wait to be more mobile, so she can catch up with all the other kids, who are walking and running. There were lots of food for the adults and children. Caitlin got lots of gifts from all our guests. She was the center of attention. Caitlin definitely milked it. We took plenty of videos and pictures of that day , since we know Caitlin will not remember. All the adults had a great time eating and catching up. We know that YeYe and MaMa did a lot of food preparation for the party. We appreciate that YeYe and MaMa were able to host the party. YeYe and Grand Uncle Ben did the BBQ. MaMa ordered a yummy and beautiful cake for Caitlin. Caitlin got to wear 2 party dresses that day. I especially loved her evening dark blue one.

Christmas Chaos for Mommy and Daddy

Christmas is one of my favorite holiday, but it's one of my busiest one. I have been balancing preparation and planning for all the Christmas and Gingerbread themes and activities for my kidos in my class. Everyone in my school is also practicing for our Christmas Sing-Along Performance next week. We are also busy with our 2nd Harvest Can Food Drive and anticipating our Christmas school play from the drama club. I have not even typed up my annual class Christmas party letter for next Thursday. Our staff party is this upcoming Thursday. I have started shopping Christmas gifts for my colleagues and family. I just ordered the Christmas greeting cards. I am not even thinking of wrapping gifts until this Friday. There is Caitie's pie's birthday bash coming up next weekend. Eugene has been in a whirwind in trying to finish up his assignments and lesson plans for his classes, which is ending this week. He has been pulling a lot of all nighters to complete his tasks for his student teaching. Both of us so caught up with our work or school related work that we try to remind ourselves not to miss this stage of Caitlin's growth.

Caitlin has started to take her 1st step of walking without any support, but she still preferred to cruise around. She does a lot of cutsey shaking head and squinting her eyes to amuse us now. Caitlin has started teething again. It is her teeth on her bottom gum that are coming out. She is doing a lot of peek-a-boo games with us.