Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone! This is how our evening went. It started with making a card for Jes.
Then instead of making dinner, we actually went down the street to Umami Burger.
We didn’t have to wait for a table and our funny little valentine entertained us.
I love this kid and I think she loves us too.
James and Sylvia’s little girl turned 4 last weekend and they had her birthday party this weekend at Sky High Sports in Concord. It was a 30-minute drive in pouring rain for us but it was worth it to see Kumquat on a trampoline for the first time.
I would have liked to do some jumping myself but I was too busy supervising this little girl.
They also served pizza and cake and I was surprised to see Kumquat stealing all my olives!
Happy Birthday, Ariel!
Boy, we had quite a weekend! It started a little early when Mirian asked if I could come home early on Friday because Karla had a fever. I managed to get home by noon to relieve her and I had an unexpected half-day to hang out with my little girl. It was sunny outside so I took her down to the courtyard for some water fun with her tea set. She LOVED it and I got some free time to pay bills and balance our finances.
That evening, we went to SOMA Streat Food Park for their version of Lunar New Year. All the food trucks had special dishes for the night, they played Bruce Lee movies on the big screens, Tsing tao was $3 all night, and they had a DJ playing Asian Hip-Hop music. They also had Chinese acrobats performing at 8pm but we left before that started.
On Saturday morning, we took a trip to the zoo for a quick 1-hour walk around the Savanna area. The giraffes and zebras were all so active that morning and Kumquat was so pleased to see her “GG” pals.
That same evening, we all gathered at Ryan and Michelle’s house in Orinda to welcome the Year of the Horse. We celebrate together every year and I was impressed at how civilized our dinner was this year considering we had 5 kids present.
At one point everyone was seated, eating, and enjoying each other’s company. 
We’ve come a long way from the year we had Jack, Reese, and Rowan together for the first time.
We had a potluck of “bring something from your homeland” so we pretty much had two dinners: my dish (chicken gravy over rice) first and then Michelle’s kalbi, spicy pork, and chap chae. For dessert, we had Vyl’s red bean pancakes and pecan pie. Yum.
The kids received red envelopes and I loved Reese’s expression when she discovered there was actual money inside for her.
Kumquat had a fun time playing with all of Reese and Jack’s toys and at one point Isla joined her. By the end of the night, she was falling asleep in Bang’s comfy lap.
After we got home and put Kumquat to bed, I mustered some energy to change my clothes and put on some heels(!) for Mai’s Bachelorette Party. Jes stayed home and I hailed a cab to Asia SF where the party had started since 5. I didn’t get there until 10 but I got there with enough to celebrate with the girls and get a good laugh. Amazingly, I was home by midnight. Thanks for the ride home, R!
On Sunday morning it was raining! Finally. We opted to stay in our PJs for as long as we could and it was great. I spent the morning archiving a bunch of our old bank and health insurance statements while reorganizing our files too. Victor and Susie were hosting Super Bowl so we joined them in the afternoon for all the tasty food that Susie prepared.
The game was not very exciting but Bruno Mars had a good half-time performance. And of course, the commercials were fun. These were my favorites:
Overall, this was a fun and productive weekend. Unfortunately, Karla is still sick so I’m going to have to stay home tomorrow. Yippee! Er, I meant Aw shucks. These unexpected long weekends are going to spoil me!!
Jes and I both had today off but this is one of the holidays that Mirian does not have off. So, we had her come in as scheduled and the two of us went to Napa for a little wine tasting and lunch. We went to Robert Craig for our free club member tasting and bought a bottle of their Zin.
For lunch, we went to The Pear, which is also in downtown Napa and located just a couple doors down from Morimoto. They feature southern food and we shared the cheddar jalapeno tater tots, root veggie salad, and chicken and waffles.
We also had two glasses of wine each with lunch so I was feeling pretty good afterward. To sober up, we went shopping at the outlet. I bought a bunch of $4 shirts for Kumquat while Jes picked up some work shirts.
Today was quite a treat. It’s so rare that Jes and I get to go out to eat by ourselves let alone have a whole day! Wish we could do this more often.
In lieu of a Christmas Party, our department at work decided to have a holiday party in January. It was held in my Club Room last night and we had a great turn out.
I think at one point we probably have about 50 adults and 13 kids!!
The last time we had a party was two years ago when I was 5 months preggo. Now we’ve had an explosion of children with the addition of Kumquat, Vivian, Sophie, and now Henry!
On top of the kiddie section, there was an area where the boys could follow the football game too.
Jes played a mean game of Jenga with Eli and lost.
Everyone seemed to have a good time including the kids. Kumquat was on her best behavior and played with almost anyone who was around. She’ll be Mommy’s Little Helper in no time!
I ordered Thai food from down the street and they delivered so set-up was a breeze. Clean-up also wasn’t as bad as years before since I actually ordered the right amount of food this time!
This was a great way to kick off the new work year. Cheers!
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