just us.

what's growing in our garden

Mike got busy this weekend, planting our vegetables:

the larger bushes are cherry tomatoes, which are already coming in!  And it's not a new plant that we went out and bought, it sprouted from the dirt on its own and has been growing ever since!  There are some garlic (or onions, I can't remember) bulbs sprouting to the left of it too.  I think Mike is planning on making a potted herb garden with the herbs sitting to the right of the cherry tomatoes.

 
I'm not exactly sure what one would do with daikon leaves, but my dad gave the seeds to us.  We have daikon growing too, so I'll have to learn to make the chinese-style daikon cakes.  Bok choy is something we enjoy, especially with mushrooms and oyster sauce.

 
Cauliflower and bacon is a family recipe, something my mom's mom made when she was a kid.  Broccoli beef made by Mike? yum!!

the strawberries are starting to flower.  Can't wait until we actually have some to eat!  Need to figure out how to keep the critters away from them though.

and last but not least, we have peas.  I still remember as a kid, picking peas from the vine in my parents' backyard.  My dad was always the green thumb when it came to the vegetable garden, and I'm so glad that he is sharing his knowledge with Mike so he can grow his own.  Our hope is that Keira will show some interest in helping us pick what we grow.  Her school has an on-site garden, and I know the kids get to help take care of it.

here is a random thought....how do people gather carrot seeds?  Carrots don't flower or have seeds in them to harvest like peas or tomatoes do, so where do carrot seeds come from??

my dad also gave us some squash plants, and I think we are giving eggplants and carrots another go.  The weather is getting nicer, so I'm  looking forward to spending more time outside!

I got a little baking done on Sunday, and used some strawberries that Mike's coworker gave us.  I was going to use a vanilla cake recipe I got from my brother's pastry chef friend but I almost lost my marbles when I saw it asked for 3 sticks of butter.  THREE!!  Lucky for me, the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens came in the mail and I used the vanilla cake recipe from there.

Eunice (my brother's friend) said that I could add the strawberries into any standard vanilla cake recipe.  If I wanted the strawberries to simply be in the cake, to add it once the batter was made.  If I wanted the cake to be a strawberry cake, then the strawberries need to be macerated and mixed with sugar so that the juices come out and flavor the cake batter.  I opted to have the fruit in the cake.  

Boy, was it good.  Lightly sweet and not too heavy.  Eunice gave me a simple cream cheese frosting recipe to try, but I think I'll save that for another time.

it's a birthday thing

We celebrated a milestone birthday for Mike yesterday..his 35th!!  And in true Lieu style, we started it off the right way...with a trip to urgent care.

 

(Keira was excited to bring home a special picture to her daddy for his birthday :) )

I took Keira to urgent care first thing Saturday morning, to have her wrist checked out.  Friday afternoon, we went shopping for Mike's birthday gift and I was holding her hand in the parking lot.  Keira was in the middle of a "I want a ball, a tinkerbell ball" tantrum and started pulling herself in the opposite direction while I'll held steady.  Long story short, she wasn't using her left arm much the rest of the day and would complain anytime she had to.  Per the after-hours nurse, we waited until morning to see if the situation would change and because it was more of the same, to urgent care we went.  Turns out her wrist was fine, but what she suffered was a dislocated elbow (otherwise known as nursemaid's elbow) and after a quick manipulation, it was popped back into place.  Thankfully, we spent only an hour and a half between triage, x-rays and examination and were home in time to have lunch with Mike.  She was bouncing around, flailing her arms within an hour after we left the doctor.  We had hoped to keep the whole situation under wraps, but when you have a 2-year old with no filter on her mouth, that doesn't happen.

Needless to say, we were able to have an awesome fiesta to celebrate Mike's 35th birthday.

 

 

I hired a taco lady (Josefina was her name) to come, and it was a hit.  It was our first time doing so, and she stayed for 3 hours serving up yummy street-style tacos.  The smell of the meat cooking was enough to make my tummy growl, even though I had eaten lunch earlier.  Mike and I decided later on that it was nice not having to prep and cook the food for a party and it allowed us to enjoy ourselves and have a good time.

 

We also had beer (Pacifico and Corona) and margaritas (did you know they have margarita mix with the alcohol already in it?  Takes out the guess work and is so easy!!) and celebrated with an Oreo ice cream cake (the birthday boy's favorite).

(Click here for more pictures from the party.)

Mike sends a big thank you to all that made it out to celebrate with him.  We are thankful for our family and friends, and look forward to many more years of celebration!

today's feeling: content

while in the busyness of making tonight's dinner and getting the dishes washed, a sense of contentment came over me.

I am happy with where my life is right now.  Not that I was unhappy before this, but things just felt like they are where they should be.

 

Keira: for the first time ever, she went pee-pee in the potty last night. I sat her on her Dora potty seat, like I've done many times before, but this time she actually made magic happen.  And this morning, she ate cereal with milk for the first time.  And the preschool drop-off went better than usual.  She walked to her classroom (rather than being carried in), wasn't crying like she usually does when we went in, and managed to let me leave her with just a look of "I'm going to cry some more" on her face.  She also learned how to scoop the water, climb out of the pool, and went under the water too this weekend at swimming lesson #2.  Baby steps!

Mike: He'll be turning the big 3-5 this weekend, and I'm throwing him a little fiesta at home.  He's been working tirelessly at getting our condo ready and rented out...which lucky for us, happened very quickly.  The previous renters moved out Saturday and the new ones moved in Sunday.

 

Neighbors: we are blessed with having really nice neighbors.  One of them is celebrating Ramadan right now, and brought us some Ramadan inspired Banana and Dates Bread.

Home: I made dinner for tonight using some stubby carrots and zucchini from our garden.  And the other night, I used our batch of tomatoes to make tomato soup (adapted from this recipe) and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Work: there are days were I could do without it, but there are days that it is my break from home.  I'm just thankful that we both have jobs that aren't so bad and help us maintain the life we live.

Me: Overall, I feel like I'm finally getting into my groove.  I'm getting into a rhythm at home, whether its getting the laundry done, or putting the clean dishes away every morning, or picking up around the house.  At work, I've been doing a lot of purging, mainly because we have a remodel coming up fairly soon.  I'm starting to make use of the time I have while Keira is at school, whether its to do chores or just have some time for myself.

Life is in a good place right now.  And that makes me feel good all around.

Monday

for lack of a better title, I'm just going to give a run-through of what we've been up to.  I can't seem to blog more often than once a week, so for now this will have to do.

1. I took advantage of having some flexibility with my work schedule last week, and was able to go to a Kings game on Wednesday with Mike and Keira.

This was the first time that Keira wore her jersey and we bought ourselves the Kings' third jersey as well...at 40% off!  and to top off an awesome night, the Kings won and secured themselves a spot in the playoffs!

  2. Keira turned 26 months on Thursday and I completely forgot to take a picture of her before I went off to work.

thankfully, Mike took a bunch when he went to pick her up and sent me this picture.  All 3 cousins, bathed and in their pajamas...the sweetest picture I've ever seen.

3. On Saturday, Keira and I went to my friend Melissa's baby shower.

It was held at Back Home in Lahaina, where we dined on Chinese chicken salad, macaroni salad, bacon fried rice and hawaiian beef.  It was all so good!  Keira got to decorate her own onesie for a contest and helped write a special message for Baby Derek in his memory book.

One thing I forgot to do was take a picture of all the things I made for Melissa's gift.  I realized it on Sunday while at work, and I was so mad at myself for forgetting!

4. Mike (finally) took down Keira's crib this weekend.

I'm not even sure why we put it up when we moved into the new house.  She hasn't slept in a crib since she was 11 months old, and never took to it when we converted it into a toddler bed.  It took up so much space in her room that once it was gone, the ideas of a reading or play space started dancing in my head.

5. Mike got to go to another hockey game on Saturday...his second within the same week!

He had a VIP pass to go "behind the scenes"...I was so jealous!  The icing on the cake?  Mike is going to a playoff game too!!  He was able to get a pair of tickets for him and his coworker to watch the Kings play the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the NHL playoffs.  Lucky guy!!

7. Mike and I have been reading to Keira before bed each night, and tonight we heard Keira recite her own version of a few nursery rhymes.  My heart practically melted hearing her "read", I'm hoping that this turns into something she enjoys.

8.  I'm hoping to check out a possible preschool for Keira this week, since we're getting a sense that she may be ready for it.  She doesn't take as long to warm up to unfamiliar kids and will even leave our side to go play.  I really want her to expand her social horizons and get used to being around other kids.

9. My parents and brother are headed to town this weekend for a short visit.  I'm hoping to do something fun with them while they are here.

that's that!!

all is good

we've had an interesting few days around here.

We celebrated Keira's second birthday on Saturday with a Ni Hao Kai Lan themed party (would you expect anything else?!)

sadly, I didn't take very many pictures because Keira was sick and not feeling very good during her party.  She woke up with a runny nose and a productive cough, and was feeling warm as well.  Once we gave her some acetaminophen, she perked up enough to open her presents and stare at her birthday cupcake.  She wasn't interested in blowing out the candle at all.

not surprisingly, most of her gifts were Kai Lan related.  She got other things like play food, nail polish, books, music CDs and Zoobles, which proved to be a bit disappointing (right, Linda?).

I had some pretty awesome birthday decorations up too, which I didn't get any good pictures of.  There were streamers and chinese lanterns and balloons.  I was trying to keep with the whole Kai Lan theme.

Saturday night, Mike found himself in the ER and eventually, admitted to the hospital.

His heart started acting up, and because he is seeing a new PCP, he was told to go to the ER for tests if and when the arrhythmias occurred.  He was started on a new medication and was admitted for 3 days of observation.

He is fine now, and really glad to be home.  Hospital food was not impressive, he couldn't get out and about, and he missed sleeping soundly in his own bed.  Being woken up every few hours for blood pressure monitoring or blood draws doesn't help either.

Thank goodness for my mom and Mike's parents being around to help with Keira.  I had to work and didn't have to worry about who was going to be with her while I was there.

happy 34.

with one hour left to go, I must wish my wonderful, giving, hard-working, handy, forgiving, loving, humorous, bestest husband a happy, happy birthday!!

we spent the afternoon at California Adventures, one day before our annual passes expire.

probably not a man's first choice to spending his birthday, but I took the wife's role and just planned something fun for him.  We ultimately wanted to catch World of Color, so I made reservations at Ariel's Grotto for dinner.  This also guaranteed us fast passes to the reserved section for the show.

We caught the Playhouse Disney live stage show first, caught a ride on Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train, got a picture with Pluto, then headed over to Paradise Pier to watch the Pixar Parade.  We grabbed our buzzer for Ariel's Grotto and killed some time hanging out outside the restaurant.  Keira scored herself a light-up lollipop, to keep her mind off M-I-L-K (more on that later).

Dinner wasn't too bad, although for the price I wish it was a bit better.  We started off with a Seafood and Meat appetizer (a salad, a cheese and meat plate and a shrimp and clam plate), with entrees of Tri-Tip and Cioppino, and then a nice dessert plate complete with a white chocolate filmstrip.  The restaurant definitely thought ahead and Keira was served an infant appetizer of watermelon, jello and mozzarella cheese (she gots seconds on the cheese).  They were really good about bringing her a cup of M-I-L-K as soon as we sat down too.  She got spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

We were going to walk around a bit more before the show started, but since we noticed people were already being let into the reserved section for the show, we decided to just camp out.

although we didn't have the best vantage point, we were impressed with the show overall. Keira didn't make it through the whole thing, falling asleep on Mike's shoulder about halfway through.

We're going to hit the sack now, since it's been a long day for everyone.

to our dear Daddy and Hubby Mike, happy birthday and we love you very much!!

current events

we (as in Mike and I...well more so Mike) are watching the Kings play in game 2 of their time in the Stanley Cups Playoffs.  sitting next to Mike is not the best place to be, especially when his legs keep moving like HE'S on the ice and the Kings are sucking huge boogers.

we spent Friday with Teri, who was in town for the weekend.  We had sushi for lunch, checked out scrapbook stuff, hung out, had pho for dinner and mochilato for dessert.  she managed to keep Keira occupied with sticker perusing and a few games of peek-a-boo while Mike and I did a little bit more packing and cleaning too.

we had our frame walk-through at the new house earlier this week.  we met with the construction manager and he showed us the various options we got and some of the cool features going into our home.  we even got to write something on the walls before the insulation and drywall went up.

 
(Friday, 4/9/10) family photo, standing in the master closet.
 
we're almost totally out of our townhome.  we have a few things left to move, but for the most part its empty.  I went to pack up a few things tonight and as I turned around to lock the door, the heartstrings were tugged on a bit.  makes me sad to see it that way.

we're awaiting a new addition to the Lieu family.  my sister-in-law Candace is actually a week overdue, so if things don't start rolling on its own by tomorrow night, she'll go in for an induction.  I talked to her earlier today and she was having contractions, but nothing that would warrant a trip to the hospital.

I made a small dent in the Old Navy inventory yesterday.  They were having another one of their "first 50 people in line get 50% off their entire purchase" sales...I was the fourth person in line :)  got a few birthday gifts knocked off the list, picked up some vacation clothing for Mike and I and filled up Keira's closet in the new house too.  I felt like I was going a little overboard, but when the clearance section is 50% off too, why not?


(Wednesday 4/14/10) picture with Mommy. 

(Saturday 4/17/10)  the latest picture of the house.  I can see Keira spending a lot of time running and playing in the motorcourt.  it's a good thing there's a lot of kids in the neighborhood too.

I'll post up more progress pictures of the house tomorrow (hopefully).  I'm working tomorrow, so I'd really like to get to bed.

manana people...

five on friday

since I've noticed other bloggers listing various numbers of things on various days of the week, I thought I'd give it a try.  just because I'm chock full of randomness :)

 
 
1. Keira's sleeping attire from last night.  and because babies are fun to put random things on, she is sporting some purple gloves (her hands were cold) and an Elmo barrette (because her hair is starting to grow!)  We like patterns in this house.

 
 
2. Mike and Keira sharing some fries at lunch today.  Mike gave up meat (beef, chicken, pork but not fish) for Lent, and I'm happy to say he's been going strong for the last few weeks!  Keira's been the sporadic eater lately, but luckily fries are still a part of her diet :)

3. took Keira to the playground today near our new house.  We needed to take some measurements so we could buy our new appliances, and Keira was in need of some outdoor time.  the plastic tubes she was crawling through created static and made her hair stand up..can you see it?  and yes, I realize her clothes do not match.  She was drinking water out of a cup and straw and ended up soaking herself pretty good.  it's a good thing I carry a change of clothing in her bag, but they don't always coordinate :)

4. and speaking of the new house....the frame is going up now!!  We didn't expect this, but are so excited about it!  We pulled up to the model homes and I see a big pile of wood where our lot is...woo hoo!!  They must've poured the foundation earlier this week as planned, which is a good, good thing.  We were told that since we are the corner house, and they build going clockwise around the motorcourt, our house will be the first one done for everything.  Which means we may be the first family to move in!!  I can't wait until Mike goes this Sunday to take pictures, it just sucks that I won't be there too.

 
 
5. I call this the Punky Brewster look.  Keira's sporting a green Christmas shirt, a brown and pink polka dot skirt, some yellow shorts, a pink and white striped onesie (hence the tail from behind) and some rainbow striped Baby Legs.  Mike just shook his head at me.  What can I say, Mom likes to have fun!  Just be glad I stopped here.  I was searching her dresser drawers for more stuff to put on.

so that's it.  I'm on work duty this weekend, and neither Mike nor I feel like packing anything right now.  All 3 of us are in various stages of a cold right now, so rest is in order.  Keira actually went to sleep about an hour ago at 6:45, which is early for her.  I bet she'll be up in a few hours, right when we are settling into bed...

holy smackaroly!

so our friend Chuck emails something to Mike and I:

this is a picture of us from Christmas 2001.  I think we had just started dating here, and were at our annual Christmas party with our friends.  It was a Secret Santa exchange and I had just gone to Hawaii for my cousin's wedding, hence the Hawaiian shirt for Mike from me.

I look as though I have no neck or chin or jawline, or maybe it's because I was a little bit heavier back then (yep, aren't we always critical of ourselves?). other than that, we look pretty much the same.

we have some exciting things happening in the near future, and we can't wait to share the news.  and NO, it's not what you're all thinking...that isn't gonna happen anytime soon.

just like riding a bike.

after more than a year's hiatus, Mike played in his first hockey game tonight.  my schedule is conducive to his playing again, at least for the time being.  normally he plays in goal, but since there already is one (his replacement), he played out tonight.  He thinks the last time he played out was when we got engaged...and you're talking more than 3 or 4 years ago!

the helmet doesn't seem to fit him anymore.  but he's got the cage on, to protect that pretty face of his :)

 

this is right before the game started. in my humble opinion, I think he did pretty well considering how long its been since he's played.  He says cardiovascularly-wise he felt okay, but it was as if the bottom half of his body didn't know what to do when the top half did. 

I'm hoping Mike will be able to play again regularly soon.  He stopped because my work schedule required me to work on game nights, and we didn't have anyone to watch Keira if he played.  I'm hoping that maybe he'll consider playing on a different team or night, especially if its one that I don't have to work.  He really does love the game.