New Years day is a BIG DEAL for the people of Pasadena. Residents usually campout on the rose bowl parade route from early on new years eve, do the countdown out there, and then stay for the parade the next morning. Hunter and I were lucky to be invited to join our friends, the Hicks, and their family who had reserved a spot for us to sit comfortable during the parade. The challenge for us, then, was finding a parking spot, and walking the couple miles to where they were sitting. It was totally worth it, though. The parade was awesome! All the floats are made out of flowers—and they were huge floats!
Paulo and Andre both enjoyed themselves. I was surprised that Andre didn’t cry from the loud noises like Paulo used to do. I guess his brother’s loud decibles have prepared him. Here he is plugging his ears (Yes, he was plugging his own ears. We just looked over, and he was doing that. Eeeee!)
At some point during the holidays, both my kids got sick. I was becoming quite concerned and was anxious to get back to “routine” and the kids’ doctor.
Turns out Andre had pneumonia. He recovered quickly after ten days of antibiotics. And while Paulo only had a cold to begin with, it has lasted this whole time until now. First it was a common cold, I think. Then he developed a croup cough. Then he caught some kind of virus, which caused him to have diarrhea and a horribly runny/stuffy nose. Fortunately, we were blessed enough to have both kids recovered in time for Paulo’s birthday, but it only lasted a few days, because over the weekend Paulo's been throwing up. I don't know if it was something he ate or what. Aiyeee. He's been doing much better today, though.
So now I hope we'll be getting back into our normal routine. I mean, you can’t really have that much of a normal sleeping / eating / going-out routine when your kids are sick, can you? The restless sleep was probably the most difficult part. Anyone who has seen Paulo’s overtired tantrums can witness that my boys need need need their sleep. Thank goodness we're starting to get over this round of bad health.
We made it! Hunter completed his very first semester of the Media Design program at Art Center! He finished a little earlier than we had anticipated, so we cleaned the house, packed up the car and headed to Utah for the holidays. We adjusted well to the freezing cold weather and daily snowstorms. For the first time, Paulo actually enjoyed playing in the snow (except for the time he got hit by a snowball--which one of the Sebresos boys threw that one anyway?) 
Christmas eve (Wing side) at Lani's beautiful new house was a blast. My favorite parts were the delicious food, of course, the late night discussions with my siblings (it's been a long time since we've done that), watching how happy the kids were playing together and finally, the homemade gifts. Daddy made me beautiful jewelery fashioned from St. George red rock (see picture in future entry). 
Christmas day (Sebresos side) at Mom's was also very fun and memorable. We looked forward to the many traditions: the orange in the bottom of our stocking, in remembrance of Grandma Mann; the grandkids' photo, which was a riot (the kids were literaly rioting in the middle of Kiddie Kandids); the grandkids' nativity scene wherein Andre played the baby Jesus and Paulo a wise man from the east. 
It was so special for us to be able to be with our families again, and for Paulo and Andre to play with their cousins. We love and miss you all already! 
We took this last picture back at home before taking down our little tree.
...Actually, I didn't really get him to eat them--he sort of decided to on his own. This video clip of Yo Gabba Gabba certainly helped:
...haha...but also, I've had to be super creative and laid back about it. (By laid back, I mean, act like eating vegetables is normal, and don't hover while he tastes it. Also, don't make a big deal if he doesn't like it at first.) One day we read a book about rabbits, so that day, I made us some rabbit food. I arranged five of the smallest leaves that you find at the center of a head of romaine lettuce in a line from smallest to largest, and then put a dollop of dip on the side. He totally ate it up.
I find the best way for me to get our family to eat vegetables is to prepare a whole bunch of raw veggies, and some ranch from the Hidden Valley seasoning packet, and our veggies are gone in no time. Recently he asked for broccoli "trees". So I bought those. Today, I cut up a bunch of broccoli, carrots, and something new--cucumber. I told him that if he bites the cucumber slice, he can make a moon. So he started doing that, and seriously porked on the rest of the cucumber.
Sigh. I guess today's been a pretty successful day.
Christmas eve (Wing side) at Lani's beautiful new house was a blast. My favorite parts were the delicious food, of course, the late night discussions with my siblings (it's been a long time since we've done that), watching how happy the kids were playing together and finally, the homemade gifts. Daddy made me beautiful jewelery fashioned from St. George red rock (see picture in future entry). 
Christmas day (Sebresos side) at Mom's was also very fun and memorable. We looked forward to the many traditions: the orange in the bottom of our stocking, in remembrance of Grandma Mann; the grandkids' photo, which was a riot (the kids were literaly rioting in the middle of Kiddie Kandids); the grandkids' nativity scene wherein Andre played the baby Jesus and Paulo a wise man from the east. 
It was so special for us to be able to be with our families again, and for Paulo and Andre to play with their cousins. We love and miss you all already! 
We took this last picture back at home before taking down our little tree.
...sit down...
...do push-ups...
...contemplate the heavens...
...and the human body...
...and then sit back and relax after such hard work.
