Freezing week!

Hi Friends! It’s been very cold here since Thursday. It was supposed to snow this week but we we didn’t really get a lot of snow but due to freezing temperatures it’s still frozen outside. We played in the park and the kids made little snow angels a couple of times. Aside from the park and church this morning, and driving to our favorite donut shop, we’ve been cozy at home and consuming too many hot cocoas these past couple of days!HA

We went to Costco the day before the snow hit. They had a decent sale on their Dungeness crabs so Hubs and I picked a package. I made Crab ramen (homemade crab broth!YUM!)

Our Church had a family movie night this week we attended!It was fun:)

Costco time!

Donuts for breakfast!HA

Dinner last night!

Mexican and subway the other night!

Part of winter cozy days are spent reading at home too! I borrow books online from our library. I’ve read more than 40 books so far last year (I have some books I collected too).

I hope you are staying safe and warm friends! Take Care:)

Rainy Week!

Hello friends from the rainy and windy Pacific Northwest! Snow is on the forecast for later this week, the kids are excited! My Sis is finally back to the east coast, but before she left we had a little tradition with the kids. We have a little sleep over in the living room! Mia is always so excited to do this:)

Hubs finally took our Christmas tree down and I stored the other decorations back in the garage! I still have to deep clean our living room though! Still decluttering and minimizing here at home. I plan to drop another bag this coming week.

Tipsy cow dinner! We had burgers and fries. We liked our burgers this time 🙂 I had The Winemaker (7oz custom ground beef patty, triple cream brie, alfalfa sprouts, caramelized onions, white truffle aioli).

The Winemaker!YUM!

Walking around the neighborhood! With all the treats this Holiday season, need to move this body. HA!

Sis likes this Reuben sandwich from Market House Meat! The BEST Reuben sandwich in our opinion.

We had cheese fondue with my In laws late last week.

Lots of sleepovers in the living room before Sis leaves for NYC!

We had a Korean Lunch before going to the airport! We all love Korean dishes. We got Bulgogi, seafood pancake, Galbi soup.

A little selfie before going to the Airport.

We had a family walk after we dropped Sis at the Airport! SO gloomy and cold!

This week we are back to our routine. Homeschooling and typical home life. Hubs is back to work.

I hope you are all having a great day friends! We are just relaxing at home now. I did have a quick walk outside earlier while waiting for the school bus and it’s so windy and cold outside.

Take Care and stay safe!

Happy New Year!

Hi Friends! Happy New Year! I pray that we all have a healthy and peaceful year with our family and friends, God’s protection and guidance be with us as we welcome a new year!

We had a simple celebration at home with my In laws last night (NY Eve), Hubs prepared filet mignon (sous vide style/seared after) so tender! After dinner, we played Uno for a while. We watched the London fireworks and countdown on youtube, toasted with Proseco and called it a night by 9:30! HA! Our neighbors had fireworks around 11 pm, so that was fun to listen to!

We attended our Church’s New Years service in the morning. Mia wanted to take a pic here!HA

Hubs preparing the steak. We got this at Costco.

New Years Day! Hello 2024! We had an impromptu decision to visit Leavenworth. We love this touristy little Bavarian town. It was very cold but no snow. The drive wasn’t too bad with not a lot of cars on the road. We got brats and pretzels and goodies like cookies and pastries! We stayed for 3 hours and it was just enough time for us. The kids got a little cranky after and napped on the way home!

A little selfie before going home! Thank You God for safe travels. We are home and just resting (we enjoyed our steak leftovers from last night).

Have a great rest of the week friends! Take care!

Our Christmas 2023!

Hi Friends! I hope you all had a great Christmas and are having a restful week as we bid goodbye to the year.

On Christmas Eve (12/23) we had a nice family walk in our park and the kids got to do scooters. It was a very cold afternoon, but unfortunately, no snow this Christmas!

After the walk, we did some last minute shopping and got some chocolates!

Uno time after dinner. Mia really likes playing Uno with the family!

Christmas Eve candle light service.

After the service, we had Chinese food and hung around the house. We played a reindeer game, Uno, and opened our stockings!

Dessert: white chocolate mousse and a chocolate cake (gotta have a birthday cake for Jesus!) Happy Birthday Jesus! Thank You for all of your blessings!

Christmas morning!

Christmas spread! Charcuterie board as always:) My Dad In law baked lasagna, crabs, roast pork belly (lechon belly) for dinner! Hubs Auntie/Uncle also joined us for dinner! We don’t get to see them often, so it is always special when they visit. Thanks to our family for their generosity and thoughtfulness, we appreciate the gifts especially for the kids!

Snowflake Lane, STK dinner!

Hi friends! We did the Snowflake Lane Christmas parade in Bellevue,WA earlier this week. We watched it together with friends (the last time we watched it was 5 years ago). It’s not really worth it for me but the kids enjoyed the parade and that’s all that matters. We had dinner after at STK steakhouse, we’ve dined here before and it was an OK experience, but this time it was great! We ordered the aged porterhouse and we were all happy with the steak. It was a little indulgent as this steakhouse was pricey!

I’m glad that we got to do this because I’m trying to enjoy the holiday season and not get too stressed. The kids wanted to do this, so this is one of our bucket list items this week!HA

Last Sunday, We had our Church’s kids Christmas show and Mia was one of the angels! Matthew had a little role too!HA..All the kids in the Sunday classes got on stage to sing some Christmas songs (In a Manger, etc.)

Have a wonderful rest of your evening friends! Stay safe and take care:)

Hot Pot night, Wonka!

Hi Friends! It’s been a busy day for us here. Mia joined our Church’s Christmas program and they had a dress rehearsal today! They’re all so precious and she’s so excited to perform tomorrow(she invited family and friends!). My sis will be spending the holidays with us and she arrived today! Hubs had the airport duty while I was at church this morning. Then this evening we had hotpot dinner at our friend’s house! It was fun dinner! I love hotpot/shabu shabu.

We got Crumbl cookies for dessert! Mia got so excited to see the Wonka cookie, we watched the new Wonka movie yesterday and she enjoyed it, her fave part was Umpa Lumpa!HA

A little family selfie before the Wonka movie:)

It’s been a busy Saturday but we had lots of fun with our church friends, Mia gave the teachers that are helping them with the Christmas performance her gifts. We are trying to teach her to be generous and think of others/show them appreciation.

Have a great weekend friends and stay safe/healthy!

Cooking at Home!

Hi friends! Happy Friday:) It’s been a wet, cold, rainy week in my neighborhood. We are just doing our regular routines like homeschooling, walking outside, cooking at home, decluttering! One of my goals is to cook and eat most of our meals at home/lessen our take outs (we do Friday takeouts!). I’m proud to say that we just did that this week! I tried to simplify our meals this month because I just don’t have the desire to be cooking and cleaning most evenings.

We had a Costco trip last week and got some basic groceries like bread, cheese, etc. I plan to go to Trader Joes this weekend to get my groceries for the week. I’m also monitoring our grocery budget this month, so for the first week we are on track!HA

Costco Trip

Tortellini soup
Chicken wings
Spicy braised chicken (Korean recipe)
Steak Bites with mushrooms
grilled tuna belly
leftovers tuna belly/veggies in coconut milk
We had Pakistani food tonight! Biryani and Paneer while the kids had Pizza

Our breakfasts are usually eggs/toast/cereals/banana bread

Lunches are leftovers/salad/sandwiches/snack food/charcuterie/cheese board

DIL stopped by this week and got us bagels!

This week, we are doing good with our “walk challenge”, despite the rain and cold!

Slow morning this week! While preparing for breakfast kids get to watch cartoons!

Relaxing!

Have a wonderful and restful weekend friends! Stay safe and take care:)

Late Birthday Dinner!

Hi Friends! Happy Sunday:) We had a delicious late Birthday dinner with the In Laws yesterday. My In laws gifted us the steaks and crabs! Thanks to my generous family!HA Hubs sous vide the steaks, they were so tender! My Mom In law baked Hub’s favorite carrot cake too!

Steaks, crab cakes, twice Baked potatoes, dumplings
with my Lovie Mia boo
Cake time!

Matthew and I enjoying a cozy Sunday morning. He is just the cutest:) Truly a Mamas boy!

Mia joined our Church’s Kids Christmas program. We got there a little early so we hung out in the car for a few minutes!HA..She is my little fashionista:)

Have a great evening friends! Stay safe and take care:) Talk soon!

Hello December!

Hi friends! December is finally here and usually it feels like things will be very hectic and next thing I know it’s the New year! I want to enjoy this season by simplifying our Christmas activities. Hubs and I are intentional in telling the kids the real reason why we are celebrating Christmas. Our Savior’s birth! I’ve simplified our decors and have no plans to buy more decorations. We are happy with our fresh tree and wreath we got at the Christmas tree farm. I will buy poinsettias (it’s a must have holiday flower/plant for me) in the coming days, and that would be it .

We have an advent calendar Bible reading from our church, we plan to do that. I also got the kids cheap advent calendars from Trader Joes, so they get a little treat after we talk about Jesus’s Birth.

Mia will be joining our Church’s kids Christmas presentation, so we are excited to see her perform!HA. We were also invited (by our realtor) to watch the new Wonka movie this month, families were invited. We will also watch the Christmas lights display around our neighborhood/near neighboring cities.

I’ve seen lots of December decluttering challenges all over social media, I think I will join them because it’s really fun for me and inspiring to see other families declutter and simplify their homes/lives. I did one kitchen drawer earlier. That was a good start. Nothing big but little actions like these give me a boost!HA

We will continue to do our family walks this month. Mia is not a big fan already because she complains about the weather.

We had pizza after our walk. We like that we have restaurants within walking distance of our house so we get to do things like this.

Have a great Friday night friends. We will play some Uno and other game cards before we call it a night here. Stay safe and take care:)

Special Weekend!

Hi Friends! How was your weekend? Ours was a busy one with Hub’s birthday, getting our Christmas tree from the Christmas tree farm, and I got baptized yesterday at our Church! Hectic, but memorable:)

Saturday, we went to the Christmas tree farm with my In laws. It was the coziest place and feels like a Christmas movie filming there!HA. It surely put us in the holiday mood! We had hot cocoa, hay rides, and a tour of the farm. I enjoyed the fire pits and snacking on a Christmas cookie. North Bend bakery was selling goods there!

Sunday, was Hub’s birthday and my baptism! I had an infant baptism in the Philippines but I’ve always wanted to do it now in my adult years. I remember accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior around maybe 10 or 11 years old. So this weekend I got a chance to publicly declare that again. All Glory to God! My Hubs was just there for support!HA He’s been baptized already years ago.

We didn’t have any plans for Hub’s birthday because we will do a family dinner this weekend. It’s just been so busy with Thanksgiving week, that we decided to celebrate later. Hubs wanted brunch at his favorite breakfast place near the church. We had breakfast after the church service.

I ordered Eggs Benedict and I really enjoyed it. Kids had the usual bacon/french toast (Hubs ordered the same).

After all the treats this weekend, we did our little family walk to compensate for the indulgence since thanksgiving!HA. It’s been a very cold Monday here! It’s back to the usual routine this week.

I hope you have a great start of your week friends! Take Care and stay safe!Talk later:)