Sunday Brunch With My Buddy Liam

The Sunday before Lisa and I headed back to work (two weeks went by so fast!) we had another brunch with the Hohertz family. Philip was so excited to have Liam over again and they had so much fun emptying out Philip's toy drawers and playing with all his new Christmas toys. Liam kept on saying "Phi-ip has a lot of toys!" and, after this holiday, I realize that Philip does indeed have way too many toys. No more toy shopping allowed, Paul has told me. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to buy more clothes for Philip instead... or shoes... or books... or whatever else tickles my fancy... hehehe. ;)

I'm a Big Kid Now!

"Mommy, WOW! I'm a big kid now!"

We have been determined to potty-train Philip the last little while. We had purchased a potty when he was a year old (yes, it was a bit too ambitious... hehe) but he never had any interest in it other than a toy or a place to read his potty books. For the past few months though, at home and at daycare, he has been great sitting on it, even for extended periods of time, but that's about it. So, off went the diaper during the holidays in the hope that he would be a quick learner. Well, did our little guy ever surprise us!! All it took was a trip to the mall to buy "big boy underwear" ("babies wear diapers, mommy... I'm a big boy!") and some stickers as incentives (he chose Thomas, Kung-Fu Panda and Cars, of course) and Philip is now about 90% potty-trained. In fact, he doesn't even tell us when he has to go to the potty anymore! He goes to the washroom by himself, does whatever deed is necessary, wipes himself, puts it all in the toilet, flushes it, and washes his hands all by himself! The only indication we get that he has gone is hearing the flushing of the toilet and the running water. Seriously, we knew our son was independent, but this just completely blew us away! This has been going on for the last two weeks and we couldn't be prouder parents. He still wears a diaper to bed just in case, but he's completely bypassed training pants and went straight to underwear. This is the best Christmas present we could ever get from our little guy. He's definitely a big boy now! :)

Happy New Year!

We went to the Ramlogan household for a cozy New Year's Eve get-together. With a lovely turkey dinner, a lot of delicious homemade desserts, a little bit of guitar music, a little bit of Wii, a lot of Rockband and a lot of laughter with the kids (who were both awake well past their bedtimes... it looks like Philip may be a budding musician though! hehe), we rang in the New Year with our closest friends. Happy New Year everyone, and we hope 2009 brings you lots of good health, happiness and love! :)

I Love Sushi

I've been craving sushi for the last little while so the gang headed out for some Japanese food on Monday night. Even Rafi, the non-seafood guy, came along although he only had the beef teriyaki (there was no convincing him of even trying the shrimp tempura or sashimi!). Poor Philip was so excited to see Natalie last night, but on the car ride there he fell asleep (classic "car-colepsy" again!) and didn't wake up for the whole dinner! Oh well, fortunately he gets to see her again on New Year's Eve and now my sushi craving is fulfilled! Wait, I think I'm craving it again... mmm... sushi... ;)

Christmas Dinner, Duong Style

My parents decided to host a belated Christmas dinner on Saturday. The difference between mine and theirs though was that it was a party for over 80 (yes, 80!) people, and the scariest part was that it was all extended family! I was feeling under the weather so I didn't take many pics (only ones of the kids, of course), but the entire house was pretty jam-packed. I'm impressed that my parents' place can even hold that many people! Merry Christmas again everyone and have a happy and safe New Year! :)

Building a Castle

Philip doesn't watch much TV so he plays with his plethora of toys instead (yay for tons of toys in the house and a whole bunch more from Christmas! hehe). He's a big fan of the Little People series and he likes to build castles. Check out our little guy in his "castle". :)

Merry Christmas!

For the first time, Paul and I decided to host on Christmas day, so we had Paul's and my family over for dinner. As usual, we provided enough food to feed an army, even though there were only 15 guests (and three were kids) at the table. We bought a 20 lb stuffed turkey (yes, 20 lb!) and received the most amazing 10 lb honey-glazed ham as a gift from the family of one of the girls I tutor. It was THE BEST ham I've ever had and we all agreed it was even better than the Butterball turkey which was pretty juicy!! The boys were pretty spoiled with all the toys and clothes they got too! Thanks Aunties, Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas! Merry Christmas everyone and I hope your dinner was as fun as ours! It looks like Christmas will now become an annual event at the O'Leary household! :)