IT'S January 12th

How is this happening.. where has the beginning of the year gone. I guess I should be glad that I have been busy. You know busy with things like - playing Scrabble with my neighbor 4 times this week. Her husband was working Khuong hours this week and K was just working normal so we got together while the kids played OUTSIDE!! That is right the weather was pretty excellent this week. Well I cannot welcome the new year without saying goodbye to 2007. Hershey Park is going to be the big miss of 2008, and really the only thing I am going to say goodbye to. We got season passes last year and we went so much I can't believe my kids are not super sick of it!! I would guess we visited the sweetest place on earth like 50 times - maybe I am exaggerating, but I don't know, that sounds about right. Of course I only have a couple of pictures because I just forgot to take my camera. I did remember our last trip to HP. Here are some of the highlights.
Jacob and Spencer would hug every Hershey man they could find - high fives were also always swapped


Mr. Hershey bar thought he was being so cute jumping in on this picture... OK he was.





See that big smile on Pence - 2 seconds before that he was in tantrum mode, THEN I found 5 bucks and gave it to him. Oh the smile that followed - how do kids know money is fun to have?

We were lucky enough to have friends visit to go with us. This is the Handy clan - they came up like 4 times to go. This was obviously around Halloween. Cameron also came up to go - I have pictures somewhere.


All of these pictures - but I didn't get one of Jacob on his favorite ride. The cars - that is right - one night we went on them 7 times in a row. Khuong finally put an end to it - he said the gas smell was making him sick. Jacob loved to drive, he says he is ready to drive my car. Like a good mom I told him that when he is 25 he can drive my car. Hershey Park was perfect - this year was its 100 year anniversary. That meant a new water park that was kind of crazy and cool. Spencer loved it, while Jacob was more of a ride man. Spencer preferred to sit in the stroller and eat crackers instead of riding some rides. We will miss you HP, but 2009 may bring season passes again.

Welcome 2008 - 2007 was AWESOME, FRESH, RAD.. you know all those 80's words. 2008 will be better - I can feel it!! So 2008 bring it.. On January first 2008 I went to bed at 6am. That must have been some party - it was!! Khuong and I rang in the new year tiling the rest of our kitchen and hall.. It was actually a lot of fun - I really like to work with Khuong. Neither of us had done any tile work before, I called my brother like 4 times a day to ask him dumb questions like, "what is the consistency of the grout suppose to be like, peanut butter or pizza dough?". Thank goodness he kept answering his cell phone. What a couple of days. I am sure that I am suppose to have some New Year resolutions - maybe this year I will shave my legs more or lose some weight.. doubtful.. but it was fun thinking about it. I hope everyone has a rockin 2008!!

Wait maybe I will paint my kitchen and put up baseboard. This may be possible!!

Jacobo - tan grande

OK so not the best picture of Jacob - what can I say I am lazy at a lot of things. I can't even believe I can kind of remember what I was doing 6 years ago, yesterday. The pain is still somewhat vivid - I only really remember when it is time to do it again. I gave birth to a beautiful and I really mean beautiful boy named Jacob. He was only 6 lbs 7 oz so the pushing was kind of a breeze. The question you must ask yourself is, "was it worth it?".. Duh - even I, a semi decent mom will admit that it was! That boy was so beautiful - I thought he was a girl for the first couple months of his life. As a child Jacob did not like to be held - he preferred to be wiggling on the ground. That is probably why at 10 months he was off and walking.

He also did not like to sleep. True to himself he still does not like to sleep. He has a really hard time relaxing to go to sleep and he does not sleep through the night - poor guy. He did NOT inherit this problem from me. He likes to cuddle now more than ever - he loves the love, affection and attention.

This boy talks A LOT - he can make me crazy with talking. He talks about everything and anything - he loves to ask those religious questions I have a hard time answering. He likes to ask me to describe the Transformer or Spiderman movie scene by scene. Did I mention he is and elephant - he remembers most everything. He is very stubborn and doesn't give up if he really wants it. Olivia reminded me the other day how obsessive Jacob was and is. He still REALLY likes Spiderman, but now he is able to like other things as well. The love started at the age of 18 months when his cousin introduced him to the web spinning hero. He used to ask where Spiderman was in the scriptures - he now gets it that only cool prophets like Abinadi tell their stories in the scriptures.

This kid astounds me. He loves people, and doing things. He LOVES babies and yearns for one. He has an amazing thirst for knowledge and is loving learning to read. He is INSANE for puzzles, but mostly Transformer ones. He can DRIVE ME CRAZY in 2seconds, and undue it all in 1. One day I was laying down for a nap (the fact that he can hold down the fort while I nap makes him supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! (I am sure that is spelled wrong) He is in the kitchen playing playdoh when I hear him tell Spencer, "let's clean everything up, it will make mom so proud of us!" I got up to him donning a broom and dustpan putting the finishing touches on the kitchen.:) What mom can resist that. He loves to eat out!! When we drive by a restaurant he will read the sign and say something like "Red Robin - we haven't eaten there yet - we need to". For his birthday he chose to eat at Red Robin and he kept asking me if I had told them it was his birthday because he wanted them to sing to him. He got to stand on the bench while they sang and he was in heaven - then Spencer was in heaven because Jacob gave him the sundae. Well my little kung fu fighter you are a blessing in my life in so many ways - I LOVE YOU!!

Christmas has come and gone

As you can see, Transformers and Lego's were the big hit of Christmas. Jacob kept raving about how great Santa was because he gave him what he wanted. Spencer's response to every present he opened was "Ohh I always wanted one of these!!" Christmas was an amazing day - Khuong didn't have to go in to help out. That in itself is something to cheer about, but we were able to just hang out with eachother and play games. Santa brought Spiderman Operation so Khuong could show off his skills - please, he barely beat me :) To make it interesting Spiderman was having seizures on the operating table. For dinner we went to a Pho restaurant and had some grubbin Vietnamese food. Jacob and I were a little bummed that they didn't have tofu, but we got over it. I think that will be a new Phui family tradition. I have to write that Khuong gave me a gift. You may say - so - but we don't do gifts for eachother. It was so much fun to get a body pillow from Khuong. He had heard me - 6 months ago say that I loved those big pillows his sister had. He said I made him suffer because he had to walk to all these different stores and he was really sore from soccer, but I am worth it. Horray for husbands!! I LOVE YOU KHUONG!!!

This photo is dedicated to thoughtful friends who let us come down the Saturday before Christmas to enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner. It was sooo good. Khuong had a lot of fun because he got to go play soccer with Joseph and I loved that they took all the boys. Khuong was limping in church the next day because he was so sore -aka old and out of shape. This picture is of Cameron opening his present - he was so excited to get a little box of Lego's. This is where Spencer learned the phrase "I always wanted this" it was so cute. It was nice to visit with Michelle and to just relax with friends.

This is what our backyard looked like a few days after the ice storm - it was so BEAUTIFUL - the ice would sparkle making it remind me of Christmas lights.

Kate's blog on 25 reason's to love Christmas got me thinking - especially the one about traditions. We don't really have any. This year I tried to start some - mostly stolen from Kate's blog. I loved the idea of new pajamas to wear - thus the new pajamas the boys were sporting. I also think we will seriously eat Chinese food on Christmas day. If Khuong doesn't really LOVE the traditional Christmas dinner we should just eat food he loves on Christmas day. I also was very aware that we had only six ornaments for our tree this year - my mom gave us some a couple years back. I think we will get a new ornament every year - even if someone gives it to us. This ornament was given to Khuong by our neighbor. I think it is a perfect addition to our empty tree!:) Maybe if I write down our traditions I won't forget them?! We had a wonderful Christmas made possible by family and CRAZY AMAZING friends. We love you all..

Church is CANCELLED!!

This picture was actually the one I wanted to put on the card - I mean that is so Spencer.


Seriously - have you ever heard those words - EVER!! Well last Sunday we got a call around 7 to let us know church was cancelled. We had gotten some ice over night and so you have it - for the first time in my life, church was cancelled. I just had to tell everyone because it is CRAZY!! Most of you have gotten our card by now, and these are some pictures that were taken - and with good reason not picked. My children do not really like to be photographed - Spencer usually thinks that picture time is wrestle time. He can't keep his hands off of Jacob. That is why this years Christmas card picture was not so hot!! I hope you all have and excellent Christmas.

Our Cracker Houses

Can you see these awesome houses we made - that is right. I have been bragging about them to Julie all week but they really aren't that fabulous. Mine of course is the best one - duh.. I as always was thinking ahead because mine can pull double duty - it can be stored and brought out for a cindo de mayo celebration. Khuong was on call so the competition was not too steep.

Spencer tasting his work
&
Jacob hard at work



Now this picture I am sure incites jealousy. You may be saying "where can I get one of these?" sorry but I don't think you can even find one on ebay. This is April O'neal from TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles). Last Christmas I bought a bunch of used TMNT toys for the boys. I got them for an EXCELLENT deal from a friend and I never really went through them all. Anyways this little lady was part of the deal. When my mom was visiting over Thanksgiving she found her and was appalled. Her shirt had been rubbed off in inappropriate spots (natural wear and tear). She also is not dressed very modestly. My mom went in search of a purple marker to make it all better. The only flaw was she used a non permanent marker so it can easily be rubbed off. This poor unsuspecting toy now lays in the trash. I think my mom is AMAZING and CRAZY at the same time - and that is why we love her!!



We had our first ice storm - it was kind of scary and beautiful at the same time. It did not end up being as bad as they thought it was going to be - so I could enjoy the rarity of it without fear. It was crazy - some of the branches on our neighbors trees fell off, so I went out to inspect them. In the middle it was as any living tree would be, but the outside was coated in ice making it so fragile and inflexible. The next day was cold but the sun was out. I got to experience something that was so mesmerizing. I am not very good with describing how incredible it was - but imagine a MAJESTIC evergreen, tall and full - as the sun melted the ice it was as if the tree was weeping. It seemed like all the ice had melted at once creating this instantaneous shower. I had to stop to watch it. It is times like these that I am overwhelmed with the beauty of the earth.

Wei-Wei

Well it is snowing again and my kids love it. It currently feels like 19 degrees outside. The kicker is the two are outside having a blast. I can currently see Jacob doing a dance on top of the play structure while Pence is sliding down the slide head first.:) Oh to be young again.

Now lets talk about what I really want to. That is right Wei-Wei (way-way) that is how I would spell it if I really had a kid with that name. I must go farther back in time for you to be able to get the whole picture. Jacob is baby CRAZY - he really wants more kids. He likes to tell me this every once in a while, and he likes to tell other people this. He once told my friend "my mom looks pregnant but she isn't -when is she going to get pregnant?" You cannot be a hater because it is probably true. Then he told a lady at church that his mother thought her baby was adorable and that he really wanted more brothers and sisters. He might take another angle like "mom, it is so boring with just two kids" -he really has it down to a science. :)

To really make sure I understand his pain, and for him to cope with it he has created a new brother for himself. This is Wei-Wei, the blue piggy bank he got from Jackie many years ago. Now he says things like "I have 2 brothers now and you have 3boys", or "Wei-Wei is hungry" (how convenient that Wei-Wei eats money). I must give props to the boy who could not wait for his mom to get pregnant - so he just created his own sibling. Wei-Wei accompanies us once in a while at the dinner table. He has come on a drive with us and Jacob was sure to buckle him in. All in all it isn't such a bad deal - he is cute and no maintenance.

Pence - you the man

4 years ago today I busted capillaries in my neck and eyes - doing what you say? Pushing out an 8lb 14oz baby cow, oh I mean boy. I have since forgiven him for his big head. Highlights of him as a baby are he was really quiet and not really aggressive (his cousin used to beat him up all the time). He slept well, and of course ate well (he is a guzman :)). To be honest I tend to block out baby things - but I do remember he was very cute and still is.
Today Spencer is so beautiful (that's right I said it - I call my boys beautiful all the time) and little - he just turned 4 and can now wear 3T pants. The neighborhood kids treat him like a baby. The girls carry him around and if he does something wrong they say "he is just little"... nice. He has a serious potty mouth which he really enjoys having. He likes to say things like butt, fart, stinky, poop etc.. In my presence he tries to control himself - so to get around the "mean mom" he says things like he would say a bad word. For instance - "you are a door" or "you are a wall" - making any word he wants into a bad word just with tone (I really can't explain it). He is very stubborn and can have some serious tantrums - both qualities which can be traced back to his parents. I am stubborn and had awesome monster tantrums when I was little, and Khuong is more stubborn than I am and had tantrums. Poor us for having kids like us. I have to write the truth because this is my journal writing. In a stubborn/tantrum episode he might say something like "I want cheerios" - but we are out - so I tell him we don't have any. response - "I want cheerios!" - we still don't have any. response "I WANT CHEERIOS!!" so on and so forth. It usually ends after he has thrown himself on the floor, and he just kind of works it out.
Now for the good stuff - did i tell you that he is precious. He is really attached to me and not really anyone else. Good for me, bad for anyone else. He gives spontaneous hugs and lots of them. If I get him when he is in the kissing mood he will give me tons and tons of kisses(he has the cutest lips). We will even play kissing games where we try to kiss each others noses, but you have to try and avoid the kiss. He puts his little hands on my face to seize the nose. He loves to sit on my lap or just to be with me. He won't even let me take a shower unless he can sit in the bathroom on the stool while I shower (that will soon probably have to be cut off). He says cute things - the other day I was caulking the baseboard in the bathroom and as he watched me he said "what are you doing with that frosting mom?" He loves CANDY - maybe too much!! He likes to jump off everything. When he was 18 months we were at a park - to make a long story short he jumped off a play structure that was probably 8 feet in the air (I was under him telling him to back up). When he did jump I barely caught him by his leg and neck - the other moms almost had a heart attack. Needless to say I got Jacob and we went home. I am not really good at this but Pence rocks and he really is amazing - I am blessed to have him and Jacob in my life. Today he is the MAN!!