Christmas Eve!

Some of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions is always some sort of cookie decorating contest, word search contest & coloring contests. We have so much fun. Thanks E-Ca for always having activities for the little children to enjoy!


Cousin Vicky from Frederick, MD joined us for Christmas. We love you Vick!


Gingerbread house and tree decorating contest with Nang's family. Needless to say, the little children did an awesome job and won the chocolate prize!!!

The winning group - Ethan, Courtney, Brigette, Erin & Megan

Jason, Liz, Nick & Jer

Linda, Russ, Laurie, Eli & Ate Emily

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Ate Emily brought us to a neighborhood that was lit up with lots and lots of Christmas lights and decoration. This was one of our favorites!

Our visit with little Jakey before Christmas!

We visited little Jakey before Christmas or shall I say "Big J."


Erin, Eli, Jason & Bel are waiting for E-Pa to bring out the Christmas gifts!

Hubby and I at Jakey's house (after eating hot pot)!


At E-Pa's house.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Erin just loves to play in the snow! Any chance or free time she has, she's outside eating snow, swimming in snow, and snowboarding on the sled. Here, she was making snow angels and when I came over with the camera, she decides to play dead.

Eli is still trying to figure out snow and what it is. Erin dunk him in the snow and used his hands to support himself and started crying bloody murder. I guess it was super cold for him. He loves loves loves ice, but refused to put snow in his mouth. Today, Rico tracked in snow in the front entrance at the door and I noticed he was picking up after Rico and was eating them!!!

The Pascual Dancing Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Surprise from E-Ca!

Erin has just been so lucky! She received a box in the mail from E-Ca. It was a Hannah Montana hand game. She loves it! Eli of course fights for anything Erin has or plays with!

Thanksgiving in Utah!

One of the restaurants we ate at is called Bucca di pepe (sp?). Meaghan's parents treated us out for dinner. It was the best Italian food I've had by far. They served pasta dishes family style! Eli looks soakn wet because he got into a water fountain that had a statue of a little boy.



Eli loves salad. He refused for me to feed him, so we gave him his own plate. As you could tell, Eli's got his motor skills down! The girls were gigglinb because Eli had a piece of salad stuck on his nose!



Erin had such a fun time with Meaghan's little sister McKenna. The are about 2 years a part. McKenna loved playing with Eli & Erin.





Daddy with Mike's brother, Eric. They went golfing that day!



Eli at Mike's mom's house.


This Thanksgiving, we spent the week with some of our friends in Utah. The break was just too short to to go to California. Some of the things we did were shopping at the Park City Outlet, ate at Rodizio Brazilian Grill, watched Twilight (which I screamed like a little girl when Edward made his appearance), ate at a Pho restaurant, and attended a live temple session at the Salt Lake Temple. We are fortunate to have friends whom we can share this wonderful holiday with. Evelyn, Mike & Meaghan's little girl also got blessed that Sunday. She was so cute in her little dress; her dad gave her a great blessing. To top it off....on the way back home...in Rigby which is about ten minutes away from Rexburg, we got pulled over for not switching lanes while there was an emergency vehicle (police car) pulled at the side of the road. We got a ticket! What an anniversay gift (It was our 8 year anniversary). It was crazy, I thought that he would give us a warning and let us go, but I guess the cop just had nothing else better to do! Two days after that...I got pulled over for not turning my headlights on. Luckily, the cop had to tend to another call that was more important! We had such a great time with Mike and Meaghan that we weren't quiet ready to come back home yet! Now, that we're back into our routine, we can't wait for Christmas break! Just two more weeks and Rico is finished with this semester. Boy, does time fly!

Heavenly Father doesn't work....

Ok, Erin got this diary that had a locket on it. Yesterday and today, she tried to unlock it with the key and she couldn't get it to open. I couldn't open in. So, today, she decided that she was going to pray to ask Heavenly Father to help her get it open. Five minutes after that, she said..."Mom, Heavenly Father doesn't work; he didn't answer my prayers." She still couldn't unlock it. So, I had to explain to her that sometimes, Heavenly Father answer our prayers through other people. I told her that maybe when her dad comes home, he could probably help her open it. Anyway...if any of you know Erin, she is very persistent and she sat and pick at that lock for a long while and in long silence. Finally, she ran into the kitchen while I was preparing dinner and said, "Mom, it worked, Heavenly Father answered my prayers! I got the lock to open!" She was so happy! At first, I was like...yeah! I told you He would help you...but then I was like...wait...you actually broke it! She was prying it open that she'd broken it. We both laughed and giggled about it together! There are just some days when I feel so exhausted and feel like I have no energy...I am so glad that my children always find ways to lift up my days and share moments of laughter together. I can't believe the funny things our children do and say sometimes! I am sure as a parent, you know exactly what I mean! =)

Shingachunga!

Surprise package from Ate Emily!

Ate, Emily...Erin was so happy to get her roll over puppy. At first, we couldn't figure out who the sender was because we did not recognize the name. We figured Marlowe Fulgado was a Filipino name and concluded it must have been a far related family. But, then...I was like...is someone trying to play Secret Santa, knowing that we're broke college students and couldn't afford to buy toys like these for our kids??? =) Thanks Ate Emily, you really made Erin's day! We love you!

Erin's Halloween party at school!

I was in charge of the Halloween party for Erin's class. Here, we bought pumpkin pails and made bean bags for bean bag toss. We didn't have time to play as a class, but Erin did for a little bit after the party as we were cleaning up!



We had a doughnut eating contest. It was so funny because we used powdered donut and the kids' faces were all powdered up at the end. The children were really into this game!



We also did musical chair and the "Monster Mash". Each time the music stop, we draw a number and whoever sat on the chair with that number, got to choose a prize. Everyone loved it and everyone got a prize!



We also had different stations to make different crafts. We first made a treat bag out of construction paper and sack lunch bags. It was like a hand puppet/treat bag. Then, we made spooky popcorn hands & ghost suckers to fill up their treat bags. Amy Butler, my sister's sister in-law was so sweet! We went over the day before the party and she made enough cookies for Erin's entire class! She is really something! We had a terrific day and the children had tons of fun!

Halloween!

Erin initially wanted to be a dead bride for Halloween because her friend was going to be one. E-Ca did make-up and hair for her the day before Halloween to see how she would look like. I was away at parent teacher conference while they did this. E-Ca told me that when Erin looked in the mirror, she was afraid of herself. Haha! Doesn't she look creepy, though? Well.....



The very next morning, she got into her dead bride dress and decided that it was too cold to go too school with cut off sleeves. She decided she wanted to be Barbie Fairytopia.




Eli was going to be a little devil because I had the best costume in mind which I was going to make and...he could be a little devil himself at times! But, Ca and I were walking around in Wal-Mart and found the cutest dog fleece hat and we put it together with brown shirt and sweats and...we thought that he made a cuter little dog. We even bought brown gloves to go with it, but Eli kept taking them off. He didn't like his hat either, but he was so distracted by other trick or treaters, he forgot that he had it on.

Heidi's pictures of Erin!

So, Heidi our friend who's the best professional photographer took pictures of Erin the other day. Erin was not camera shy! Follow the link below to see Erin's photos and check out some of Heidi's work!


http://www.heidisuephoto.blogspot.com/

Eli & his balloon...

E-Ca bought Eli a balloon since he couldn't stop pointing at it at Broulim's. He loves balloons and Erin gets upset that he always pop hers.

Eli's new trick!

I think it was last week when Lindsay and Emily were over to visit teach me, Emily was sharing a thought from the message with us and we noticed this yellow ball just kept flying over towards us. We weren't paying attention at first, and thought that Eli was just throwing the yellow ball at us. Then...I noticed Lindsay started laughing. Eli was biting down on the yellow ball so hard that it just shoots out of his mouth! He's just so funny! Hope you enjoy the clip.

Happy belated gift!

E-Ca is visiting from California and bought Erin two fish for her belated birthday gift. She named them Angela and Sam. She is trying to get use to feeding them breakfast and dinner.

Pumpkins!

I tried to get a descent shot with Eli and pumpkins. The only wan I could get him to stay with the pumpkins was to give him chalk to draw on it!




Erin draws diligently with the chalk as you could tell by all the chalk dust on her cheeks. I just love autumn! I like watching the leaves on the trees change colors from green to orange, red and brown! I love watching Rexburg's beautiful seasonal changes!

Doodling on the sidewalk!

It was a very cold day...too cold to play outside, but we all needed some fresh air and get out of our little apartment. The children loves to do sidewalk chalk art. Eli sometimes like to eat the chalk!



Eli brings every piece of chalk to Erin.

Snow flakes!!!

The first day it snowed, Eli had this confused look on his face. He just stared at the snow falling for a while and didn't want to come back inside. For the first time, he's wearing the snow boots Ate Emily bought for him last year for Christmas.


I also learned how to take pictures while images are in motion. If Erin looks funny in this photo it's because I made her jump up and down to see if I could get a clear image of her doing it!

Black & White!

I was playing around with your camera and figured how to take pictures in black and white!




Erin thought it would be cool and freaky to make a scary face in a black & white photo!

Sharing...Free Crazy Bread!

Erin & Eli loves fruits!!! If only they eat veggies the same way!


This was the day we made it up to Erin on her birthday. Since Rico had so much homework to day on her birthday, we decided to take her out that Friday. So, we ended up going bowling at Teton Lanes. I'd plan to take my camera, but I always tend to forget on special occasions!!! Afterwards, we went to pick up some crazy breads from Little Caesars. Erin received certificates for local eateries for earning so many points for accelerated reading at school. She is doing so well!




Erin and Eli sharing crazy bread! It was really yummy!

Erin turns SEVEN!

My little girl is getting big! Today, Erin turned seven years old!!! This was the first year we celebrated her birthday without our family. We had cake with friends in our backyard. Erin is so lucky to have such sweet and thoughtful friends here. We love them very much. Thank you for making her birthday memorable. This is the only picture we have on her birthday. Our camera has not been functioning properly lately. Despite that, we quickly ate our cakes; Erin opened her presents and had fun playing outside with her primary friends. She loves her presents and had the biggest smile on her face when she opened them.

Erin's favorite place to eat is New Fong's. Hugs & kisses for Eli!



Erin was the oldest one at Nathan's birthday party. She had plenty of candies from the the pinata!



Like sister, like brother!

Fun things!

Erin and Eli is getting messy with shaving cream art. Erin loves messy art activities! Eli on the other hand did not like the texture of shaving cream. It felt sticky to him and kept on wiping his hands on his t-shirt. He then started to paint his head with it!



It was one cold day after coming back in from playing outside, we came inside and whipped up a hot bowl of top ramen noodles. Eli loved it! He started playing around as I fed him and wouldn't let go of the spoon from his mouth. We thought he looked like ET!



Stunna shades!



I was making a birthday cake for a friend and Eli takes off with the whip cream lid and headed out the front door! Sneaky, sneaky!




Eli loves going up the rock climb on his own!