Awake at 2am

So I've been sleeping but apparently, my siblings were not (it's day time in what Gabriel now correctly refers to as the "Eastern Hemisphere"). So they decided to give me us a call through Skype. Jojo answered this time (I answered 2 previous calls sometime during midnight). I do know when it's my brother calling me coz I can't seem to hear him at the end of the line. He says he hears us fine though. Too bad.

So after 15 minutes of not being able to get back to sleep, I logged in. And there they are, my siblings chatting. After about 5 minutes though, they suddenly had something else to do, and so I am left here... online and alone. How about that?

Well, let me instead write down how the week has been. Gabriel turned 8 last Thursday, he was really happy as his classmates gave him handwritten birthday greetings, tons of bookmarks, and $1. They are so sweet, he was really happy. For dinner, Gabriel wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A and as it was his day, he's the boss. Definitely, low key.

Friday night around 6pm, we went to Dealey movie night featuring "Kung Fu Panda." It was my first time to watch the movie from beginning to end and I realized that I missed the middle half of it before. And yet, I have put it down as 3 stars in my list. Oh well, the rating didn't change even after finishing the movie. Once again, we sat with Margaret although this time, a few of Gabriel's other friends joined our blanket: Gabriel and Dominic; Olivia; and Andrew.

Earlier this week, we dropped by Vera's Bakeshop to reserve Gabriel's birthday cake for his party on Saturday. He chose a dinosaur-themed one and I hope I remember to take a picture before it gets eaten. We also went to Party City for his goodie bag stuff. We hope it's a success, and at last count, 28 kids are coming.

The other day, we saw the trailers for Twilight. Looks great, I can't wait to watch the movie. These past few months, I would rather wait for the dvd to be available on Dvdplay kiosks, but I don't think I can wait for this one. So we probably will watch it in AMC. As we will be in Houston when they open, we might go out one night while we're there and catch it. If not, definitely when we get back.

Some friends of ours are planning to have a "bowling night" and I just hope that with our schedule, we'll be able to make it. So far, we're booked for the weekends through Dec 13. Mostly chess tournaments and parties.

We also had an early Thanksgiving Potluck at the office. Good times, good food. And what's even better, I was able to carry out a bag for dinner. My family enjoyed it.

Cyndee invited Gabriel to join Julian's indoor soccer games, and so he now has soccer practice from 6:45 to 8:15 every Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He'll be exhausted but we imagined this will be good for him as it is getting to winter and he won't be able to play or even stay outdoors at all.

Wow, so much has happened this week. And more tomorrow. See you later.

What a day!

It's been another one of those busy days. Started early in the morning to go to Gabriel's chess tournament. As we were getting in the car, I saw our neighbor Glen. So finally, months after the incident, I was able to thank him for knocking on our door one early morning, and letting me know that I left my keys on the keyhole. Where it stayed the whole night. If I didn't write about it before, I was probably too embarrassed to admit it. But now you know.

Gabriel's chess was good, he got a medal along with a few kids for ending up with 3 wins out of 5. We met a few other people and I did a good deed today. Let me not tell you what it is, but it was a good deed.

After chess, we took Andrew to the soccer field for the last game of the Fall season. Andrew's dad was there to meet us. I'm not sure whether we won or it was a tie, but the season ended good, that's for sure. Cheers to Coach V! Cheers to Dealey Dragons!

At this point, I only had a hotdog to fill my stomach around lunchtime. Definitely not enough, so I'm thankful we still have leftover roast pork, roast duck, and kinilaw. The best, I say!

I popped in the West Wing dvd from where I left off but immediately fell asleep. Bad, I only just ate. But I couldn't help it. Now I'm wide awake and telling you how my day went.

Fall back victims

Monday night, I slept with Gabriel in his room. We both woke up at around the same time the next morning to go pee, and realized after looking at the clock that it was already 7am. So Gabriel said It was time to take a shower and prepare to go to school. Jojo on the other hand was still snoring.

While Gabriel was in the shower, I prepared his school uniform and then went on to our bedroom. I checked the clock and it said 6:15am. That's when I realized that the clock in Gabriel's room was not updated to reflect the standard time.

Oh well, we all had a laugh. It was great waking up so early.

Happy Day

Yesterday was a happy day. I was in the office when our Systems Manager announced that old laptops are on their way to recycle centers. If anyone is interested though, there are 8 that are working. No catch. So after a moment of crazy, I went home and presented Gabriel with his first laptop. He was really excited. Jojo immediately configured the wireless and installed Glubble to manage and monitor the websites that Gabriel can access. It's perfect. Gabriel said, "I triple love you, Mommy!" Doesn't get any better than that.

Also contributing to it being a happy day, I got the West Wing complete season dvds that I ordered in Amazon. And even the Guitar Hero Aerosmith Wii game arrived. Amazon is awesome. Times like these when I know that life is a dream I'm living.

I cooked crabs and shanghai rolls for dinner and although the crabs didn't turn out as I would like them to, it's alright. Didn't even dent my happiness. I just need to improve on the recipe and it should work next time.