Holiday memories we'd like to forget but lingers..

My first Thanksgiving was really nice, however for a good laugh I'll tell you about our first Christmas instead. This is for all the ladies with in-law issues... I've got you all beat hands down!!

When my husband and I first met, his dad came up to Houston for a business transaction and decided to live with us. Of course we were still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship and everything was good. His dad was wonderful from afar.

After a while I started to notice little odd things my father in law would do. I merely passed it off as his crazy odd habits after all everyone has odd habits.... I'll save his odd habits for a later story. The remote controller picture is an example of his handy work and boy are there plenty of those.

Anyway, we manage to survive Christmas which was wonderful and it came time to take down the Christmas tree. My husband miss calculated the ceiling height and the tree could house a pack of squirrels and some. It was like the Grizzwald’s Christmas tree on steroids. As a nice gesture my father in law wanted to take down the tree, I told him thank you but no. I wanted to keep the tree up just a bit longer.

As we approach our house from doing errands. I notice this big thing on our yard which looked burnt. And I’m thinking to myself, please lord don’t let that be my house. Keep in mind we had just moved in and I wanted to at least have a good impression to our new neighbors. Well, my crazy father in law took out the tree without taking off the ornaments, lights, etc… and dragged it out from the living room to the front yard. So all you saw from the living room to the front yard was broken lights, precious ornaments my mother had given me and all keep sake stuff every where. I mean every where!!!, it was as though wild dogs had gone through our house.

At that moment I never wanted to choke someone before but boy I wanted to just scream and kill my father in law, however all I could manage was just tears,.. no words just tears…. To top things off my crazy father in law went out and bought a car cover for his truck. True to form he bought the opposite of what he actually needed. So next to the broken Grizzwald Christmas tree was this ridiculous truck which had a car cover for a Miata and only covered the hood of his truck…!!!! We moved the following year.

A New Day

Congratulations senator Obama. The election is over and I took my moment of discomfort but quickly gave way to the feeling of happiness and peace of mind, because this is a great moment for history but most of all I’m proud of the American people who turned out to vote and got passionate about politics.

While at the voting both, I must admit the choice was not hard. I simply asked myself who would I trust to baby sit my kids for the next four year? Would he or she pass my security/safety test and if for some reason I gave them a pass. Would their friends and associations be welcome? Most of all I am proud to have honored Dr. Martin Luther Kings legacy to judge a man based on character not skin color. My vote was not for Obama. You could only window dress for so long, eventually the foundations will reveal it self. I'd much rather be the odd man out any day than to have made history for the sake of making history.

Now that we know anything is possible and perhaps took one of the biggest steps on getting over the “race issue” or the “white man’s guilt” where a black man or a woman can achieve anything in America we can now get to the real issues without sneaking in the race card when valid points are brought up. This is now an even playing field (though it has always been there) with possibilities for anyone no matter what color, background, and gender you are if you work hard anything is possible. So no more excuses not to get off your ass and work hard for something you want.

I claim no party but my own family and the greatness of what America is and can still become. Though the Republican Party lost its ground, they should put things in perspective first, given all the money, media, Hollywood and Opera hype Obama did not get a land slide victory or a double digit lead in the popular vote, as everyone was predicting. McCain ran a horrible (putting it lightly) campaign, lets not forget it was the media who got him as their nominee. His biggest problem was that he said being bipartisan is the hardest thing to do and reached out too many times to the other side. No Mr. McCain being bipartisan is the easiest thing to do because agreeing and going along with someone else’s idea you could do in your sleep. Standing alone on your own feet and morals, while others are attacking and throwing insults at you is what a leader does and the truly hard thing to do.

So Republicans take this moment as an opportunity to clean house, too long have you strayed away from your core beliefs of lower taxes, less government, expanding the private sector and the party of Abraham Lincoln who stood to abolish slavery when majority of the people wanted him to be bipartisan and reach across the other side.

Again I am so proud of America, like always I will trust but verify our leaders and to give Obama more than what majority of people gave Bush is respect and refuse to give into hate when opinions differ. May the best days be ahead of us.

Reposting Meaning of Thanksgiving

A friend of mine asked me to repost this. I know it's been a while since I blogged something new, not that I don't have much to add but little time.

Here you go Chrissy,

With a blank stare in the mirror while brushing my teeth, I was thinking about one of my son's homework regarding Thanksgiving. Not sure why I was thinking about it now, perhaps it is the constant bombardment of the doom and gloom stories that is always on the news or perhaps this time of the year great American traditions such as; Thanksgiving, Christmas, football games, God etc… comes under attack. Anyway, his assignment was to write about Thanksgiving and what you like most about it. So, my husband and I said it is a time of giving thanks and told him the history of thanksgiving. Of course blue berry pie was his favorite….

And it made me think of what do I give thanks the most to? The first thing that jumped to mind was how lucky and fortunate my family and I are to live in this great country. Though it is flawed and not perfect, this is one of few countries that allow its own citizen to make changes and speak their mind. I started to reflect on my history of coming to America. From the death of my birthmother, to the struggles of fleeing a communist country and finally assimilating to the American way of life. There were many times I could have gone down the road of self pittty or hopelessness but luckily I was given a second family with a wonderful mother. Though she is not my biological mother, she is much my blood as I am hers. She taught me that tough is defined by the amount of effort you put into something.

Since America is not my first home country, as a child I would always feel guilty of not truly being a citizen and would cross my fingers when saying the pledge of allegiances. Not sure why I did it, perhaps it was the fear of communism, and in my adolescent mind I did not want to get into trouble just incase I was taken away. So growing up the concept of what a citizen is grew heavily on my mind. Is it a piece of paper or something more? It was not until my first son was born I truly understood the concept of what a citizen is. It's not just a documentation giving you certain privileges but what it means in your heart and way of life. It is the deep respect of our history and the diversity of many cultures that is blended into one melting pot. For me that one melting pot is our language, our faith in God (which ever God you believe in) and willingness to fight for freedom. However there are a lot of people out there for some reason or another is bent on destroying the unity of that melting pot by trying to take out the word God or make everything bilingual.

I am not a deeply religious person nor do I go to church every Sunday but what is so wrong of having respect for the guy upstairs. Some can argue that religion is the cause of many battle and wars… but really, is it? Or the interpretations of man. As humans we could use any excuse to go to war but truly I believe that God brought more good than evil. Basically for me the word God is part of America's history and that the founding fathers of this country went to great lengths to keep the word God into our life. Please don't let their struggles die in vain. Make peace with the word "God" and move on.

So now the election is approaching and I find myself asking who I would support. I do not define myself as a republican, democrat or libertarian. First of all, hands off for those who want to run for office in today's world. But if you're going to run, be prepared for every part of your life turned up side down and under a microscope. I'm not phased by all these polls, nor do I care for them.. It's simply a talking point for the media and understand it. Like any job applicant the citizens are the employers and who ever seeking the job of the next president man or female better come with a darn good resume.

What I would like to see on his/hers resume is their voting records, what bill they actually passed not just talked about, people skills (the art of persuasion ), have a moral compass, clear examples of their leadership under times of pressure, actually ran a successful business and basically the ability to answer a straight question not make good sounds bites for the evening news. My biggest pet peeve is straight answers. For example if you were to ask a candidate what color is the sky? What do you think he or she would say… everything aside I would support someone who would just simply give a straight answer… blue! and nothing more.

Family Fun Filled Visit

Over the weekend Van's family came to visit and stayed with us for a three days. In those three days we did things that could easily take two weeks to do. We went to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, swimming, had a BBQ by the pool, took the train to the zoo, medieval times and sight seeing around Dallas. Whew! so after they left yesterday we took a long nap.


This photo was actually from our cousin Jason's wedding in Jackson TN. Look at Patrick's face, he is funny at making silly faces.

The kids feeding sting rays. I actually fed one and it was kind of slimmy but fun.



This is one of a few pictures where Patrick looks so sweet, but don't let it fool you. However this is how I think of him inside my heart...


Here are the boys showing some moves at Medieval Times. It was amazing!! I highly recommend doing this, if you're ever in Dallas.





My inner geek came out and the knights at the show was like eye candy.. ha ha

The princess crazy face. Isabella makes this crazy face that is so funny her whole body shakes while she does it. It's really funny in person.

Patrick 1: Mom 0

Score a point for Patrick as he is the first to truly beat me down... in the test of will power.

I should have realized yesterday was not going to be my day when Isabella decided to color her bed with... pooh... yes pooh. It was all over the crib, sheets, pillow case and of course on her. So I rushed both her and Patrick in the tub. Scrub the crib down with bleach and washed all the bedding (before nearly hurling)!!!

Van had to work late to prepare for court... So I was on my own for Patrick's first T-Ball practice with all three kids. Knowing Patrick's track record on cooperating, I was prepared for a melt down. But this was the melt down to end all melt down. First he started crying immediately, I began my usual round of questions ranging from being scared, hurting, potty break.. After letting Patrick relieve himself behind the telephone pole (there were no bathrooms around, I was not going to torture myself longer than need be). Still he was crying, and some how bit himself on the lip and bled all over his shirt... With every bat there were tears, with every step there was screaming, with every hit there were more tears. It took every ounce of me not to break down.

After many bad glares from the other parents I could have easily ended everyone's misery and taken him home. But I was determined not to give up, because if I did he would start down this path of giving up. I really didn't care what other parents think and told my son he had won the crying battle.... for a moment he stopped crying and just looked at me with shock and continued playing with tears. After practice was over, in the car he turns to me with the cutest look and said he wanted to come back again... I nearly hit a tree!!! Oh in between the chaos of all the crying and screaming... Isabella was running up and down the field.

At the end of the day all you could do is laugh and thank god your kids’ still want do sometime they thought was horrible and ended up liking it because you didn't give up on them.....

My Big Milestone

As my birthday was approaching, (which I was not looking forward to), mostly because I will be 35 half way to 40 then eventually 50, then 60… so on and so on.

Anyway, I didn’t feel 35 let alone 25 but I don’t want to become one of those “Cougars” looking 50 dressing like they’re 20. You’ve seen them at malls with their daughters, wondering if the mother robbed the daughters’ drawers. Secretly I was hoping Van would kind of let it slip, but he had to go out of town and came back with a wonderful birthday gift. While he was gone it gave me sometime to actually think about the year that had came and gone. The biggest change was after four years my father in law finally moved out. So, it’s been like starting all over again with Van and it’s just been great! We still have our moments here and there but nothing close to what they were like before. With the major stress being gone I’ve lost 10 lbs and have a few more to go. We love Dallas and have met some wonderful new friends. Actually we are in Plano, a suburb north of Dallas where it’s clean, lots of lakes, parks and family entertainment. I’ve gotten more involved in some mothers group and Kohl’s school.

Over all, the year has been more then wonderful so why am I still feeling this knot in my stomach about turning a year older? Secretly I think it’s because my kids are getting older and while I joke about it, our kids will eventually move out and the hardest question is what will I do with myself? The first vision I have is me doing a big cabbage patch dance as balloons are falling down. Once the balloon deflates and my rhythm has gone south, I would have to answer the question but my biggest fear would be did I do enough for my kids so they could make the right choices in life? And what will their relationship be like with me?

So I have come to realize its okay for those two questions not to be answered immediately but be mindful of those two questions when I decipline my kids. But most importantly to listen to my husband about not sweating over the little things and simply enjoy the kids while they are young.

Happy Easter!!

Easter came by so fast and the kids grew even faster. This year we went to my mother in laws and the kids got to play with their cousins. As always my mother in law exceeded my expectations, it was like Christmas all over again. I always look forward to seeing her and the 7 hour drive is worth it but don't ask me that when I'm in the car with all the kids.



There were more frosting on Patrick than on the cupcake!

Van thinks Isabella has been gift wraped from the size of the bow.. ha ha

All the cousins, the latest addition is Russell.

All ready for church. Kohl finally lost his front tooth, we were hoping it would hold out until Easter photo's were done. So, in some of the pictures you could see it was barely hanging on. His whole entire modivation for pulling it out was money from the tooth fairy. I don't think I'll ever have the heart to tell them the truth about Santa and the tooth fairy. But hay, tooth fairy and Santa comes in handy when you want them to behave.

More than just a great recipe

For those who know me, understand my love of food. Okay, my enjoyment of sharing food with others. Being the youngest sibling I have the fortunate pleasure of watching my sisters cook really good Thai food. My oldest sister has a great restaurant out in Shreveport, surprisingly it's a traditional southern style restaurant with home cook meals made from scratch.

One of the best thing about cooking is the bonding experience it gives us. Since our lives has taken us in different states, when we do get together my favorite part is preparing the meal. This is the time where we not only gather up the ingredients but a time to catch up on our lives. The ease of preparing that familiar food gives way for really good conversations about kids, husbands, struggles of day to day experience and stories only sister’s shares with one another. When food is prepared with wonderful stories and love, no spices can match or make it that more tasteful. Perhaps I am too sentimental. Below is a recipe for some great egg rolls my sisters and I made over a story about ex's.

Ingredients; (keep in mind you could use what ever stuffing you like) You could find the products in your local Asian stores. Sometimes Walmart or HEB will have these ingredients as well.

-1lbs of ground pork

-1 package of 'spring roll' wrapper. Make sure it says 'spring rolls', this should be in the frozen food section.

-red cabbage, carrots, mushrooms (I like shitake)

-rice noodles (use the one I have on the picture)

-1 egg

-Golden mountain seasoning sauce (see picture)

-salt and pepper

Steps:

1) Start boiling the rice noodles, once they are cooked drain/wash them in cold water. And let the spring roll wrapper sit out to thaw.

2) Thinly shred the carrots, mushrooms and 1/2 cabbage. This could be as thick or as thin as you like. I like mine thinly sliced.

3) Place the ground pork, vegetables, and 1 egg in a big mixing bowl. With your hand just mix everything around.

4) Add about a cup of the seasoning sauce, if not a bit little more and some salt and pepper. Once everything is blended... it's time to start rolling.

Make sure the wrappers are nice and thawed out. Depending on how thick or thin you like your egg rolls to be. I use about a good table spoon full, if not a little bit more. Place it in the wrapper and roll it like a burrito. Make sure it is nice and tight because you don't want the oil to seep in. Once you are done wrapping, just fry them in oil.

To tell if is done, make sure it floats up slightly like fried chicken and the color should be a light brown color. Try using the dipping sauce I have in the picture.

Enjoy it with some good company!!

Birth orders

After reading an article about birth orders, it made me wonder a little bit if indeed it is true. (read here for the full article http://lifestyle.msn.com/familyandparenting/raisingkids/articleab.aspx?cp-documentid=2135338 ) Though all my three kids display characteristic of each traits, I can’t help wonder if uniqueness is defined by how much I allow them to get away with. For example, I used to think my middle child Patrick during the day time is the sweetest, well mannered child and than turns into a demon when my husband gets home. But actually he is still sweet and well mannered it’s just my attention has changed because by the time my oldest son and husband gets home I’m split in four different directions. Once he notices that I’m distracted is when he’ll start acting up more. But do you really blame him. When I started joining a mothers group, I was scared at first what my kids will behave like. Since joining I’ve gone out a couple of times with other moms and Patrick (my middle child) display characteristics of the first born because I allow him to take that role as my helper. I see more and more of how much he wants to learn but for him the world is just so big and the possibility of doing something bad is that much more tempting. My oldest son does display more of the characteristics of the first born. But when he is with other kids, he is free to run, jump and just be a kid. It’s when I start to expect his behavior to be in line with mine, is when I start to second guess myself. So the biggest challenge is scheduling time for each of them and to take little moments for what it is. Luckily my youngest child is still on a napping schedule during the day time which allows me to dedicate that time for Patrick while Kohl is at school. Isabella gets the morning and Kohl gets the evening.

What I took away from the article is that my outlook is different per child and their personalities is not so much shaped by the birth orders, but the priorities that we give each child. The article is a good reference but I truly think what we teach our kids is what will guide them into shaping their own life.

The Meaning of Thanksgiving

With a blank stare in the mirror while brushing my teeth, I was thinking about one of my son's homework regarding Thanksgiving. Not sure why I was thinking about it now, perhaps it is the constant bombardment of the doom and gloom stories that is always on the news or perhaps this time of the year great American traditions such as; Thanksgiving, Christmas, football games, God etc… comes under attack.

Anyway, his assignment was to write about Thanksgiving and what you like most about it. So, my husband and I said it is a time of giving thanks and told him the history of thanksgiving. Of course blue berry pie was his favorite…. And it made me think of what do I give thanks the most to? The first thing that jumped to mind was how lucky and fortunate my family and I are to live in this great country. Though it is flawed and not perfect, this is one of few countries that allow its own citizen to make changes and speak their mind.

I started to reflect on my history of coming to America. From the death of my birthmother, to the struggles of fleeing a communist country and finally assimilating to the American way of life. There were many times I could have gone down the road of self pittty or hopelessness but luckily I was given a second family with a wonderful mother. Though she is not my biological mother, she is much my blood as I am hers. She taught me that tough is defined by the amount of effort you put into something.

Since America is not my first home country, as a child I would always feel guilty of not truly being a citizen and would cross my fingers when saying the pledge of allegiances. Not sure why I did it, perhaps it was the fear of communism, and in my adolescent mind I did not want to get into trouble just incase I was taken away. So growing up the concept of what a citizen is grew heavily on my mind. Is it a piece of paper or something more?

It was not until my first son was born I truly understood the concept of what a citizen is. It's not just a documentation giving you certain privileges but what it means in your heart and way of life. It is the deep respect of our history and the diversity of many cultures that is blended into one melting pot. For me that one melting pot is our language, our faith in God (which ever God you believe in) and willingness to fight for freedom.

However there are a lot of people out there for some reason or another is bent on destroying the unity of that melting pot by trying to take out the word God or make everything bilingual. I am not a deeply religious person nor do I go to church every Sunday but what is so wrong of having respect for the guy upstairs. Some can argue that religion is the cause of many battle and wars… but really, is it? Or the interpretations of man. As humans we could use any excuse to go to war but truly I believe that God brought more good than evil. Basically for me the word God is part of America's history and that the founding fathers of this country went to great lengths to keep the word God into our life. Please don't let their struggles die in vain. Make peace with the word "God" and move on.

So now the election is approaching and I find myself asking who I would support. I do not define myself as a republican, democrat or libertarian. First of all, hands off for those who want to run for office in today's world. But if you're going to run, be prepared for every part of your life turned up side down and under a microscope. I'm not phased by all these polls, nor do I care for them.. It's simply a talking point for the media and understand it. Like any job applicant the citizens are the employers and who ever seeking the job of the next president man or female better come with a darn good resume.

What I would like to see on his/hers resume is their voting records, what bill they actually passed not just talked about, people skills (the art of persuasion ), have a moral compass, clear examples of their leadership under times of pressure, actually ran a successful business and basically the ability to answer a straight question not make good sounds bites for the evening news. My biggest pet peeve is straight answers. For example if you were to ask a candidate what color is the sky? What do you think he or she would say… everything aside I would support someone who would just simply give a straight answer… blue! and nothing more.