The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Hi Friends! It was a nice surprise to wake up with fresh snow this morning. No school for Matthew due to icy road conditions so it was another fun day at the park for us (after Mia and I did our homeschool). What a beautiful winter morning. The sun was out, blue sky and fresh air and snow! I find myself thanking God for such mornings,I’m so grateful I get to do this with my kids:)

I’m still on my low spend year (I think this is my 3rd year). It helps me to be mindful when shopping, especially with clothes. I have been donating some of my shirts so I decided to get casual shirts. I got a good deal with this one (60% off)! Basic shirts for Matthew and a linen jumpsuit for Mia.

WIth the cold weather, I made beef rib soup for dinner.

Wednesday morning! School was cancelled because of icy road conditions. Off to the park again! A neighbor made this giant snowman.

Hubs was doing errands and we decided to have pizza and tacos for dinner as a midweek treat!

Have a good Wednesday evening friends! Stay warm and healthy.

Hi friends! We had snow this weekend, so the kids had a little fun outside and built a snowman. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but enough to make it fun for the kids (and our neighbors too). It was a fun and productive weekend! We stopped by our local donation center because I’ve been decluttering kids clothes and some kitchen stuff. Every time I visit this place, it motivates me so much to stop buying things we don’t need!HA.

After the donation center, the kids wanted to eat Jollibee and visit an indoor playground. It’s been so cold and rainy we obliged! The kids had a blast:)

This was Sunday morning before Church!

Hubs prepared cheese fondue for dinner after playing outside!

It’s been a busy day here! Mia and I were still able to have a little walk. School was delayed for two hours today, looks like tomorrow things will be back to normal! I would love more snow days but based on the forecasts it will not be happening.

I hope you have a good Monday evening and stay safe!

Hi Friends! It’s been a cold and rainy week here, looks like we could get snow too but not sure if it will be a winter wonderland for us. Can you believe it’s going to be February tomorrow?! It’s been such a long month here with the weather and cold season. I’m thankful that we had minor colds when the kids were sick this month, I know others had it worse. We just try our best to support our immune systems!

We watched President Trump’s Inauguration!

The sweetest boy ever!

Dad in Law got crumbl cookies for the kids!

We were able to do date nights this month! We had Italian and sushi dinners. Hubs is so busy this month so we always look forward to our time together.

Hubs made me a latte and delivered in bed! HA

I hope you are having a good Friday night friends! Take care and stay safe:)

Hi Friends! How was your weekend? We surprised the kids yesterday with the Monster Jam show! We got there early because Tacoma Dome is a 1 hour drive from us and we were expecting traffic. We got there 30 minutes before the show and got some hotdogs (expensive and tough!HA) and chips. It was our first time to watch and we had a blast! Matthew is into monster trucks so we thought that he will really love it but Mia enjoyed it more than him! It was a great family time:)

Traffic was so bad going home that Hubs ended up going the Seattle route instead! It was a beautiful day but really cold. Hubs suggested we go eat somewhere in Seattle but the kids were already sleeping and I wasn’t really in the mood to go somewhere after the 3 hours monster jam show. We ended up taking out sushi and ramen.

It’s been a foggy week and freezing temperature most of the week. Not enough to get snow though! It’s all frost today..

Kids had swimming lessons this weekend. After church and swimming, We stopped at our local Korean store and got some kimchi. The kids and I have been watching Korean mukbangs and I swear the kimchi looks so good that made me want to eat it this week.HA

We had crispy garlic shrimp and hand shaved noodles for dinner tonight. Hubs was in the mood for some noodles and didn’t mind driving to Seattle just to get this from his fave Chinese restaurant. Crazy….

While waiting for Hubs, I was watching Trumps victory rally! I’m so excited for his inauguration tomorrow! We will be watching and a good opportunity for the kids to learn about the office of the president/Inauguration.

Have a good rest of your evening friends! Take Care and Stay Safe!

Hi Friends! We had a busy week because Hubs was out of town (he’s back now) and we had a stomach bug (thankfully it was only 2 days)! Thank You, Jesus! Before Hubs had the work trip, we visited one of Seattle’s famous bakeries/cafes because we wanted to try their kouign-amann (it’s a french pastry). Of course we waited in line for 40 mins and they were all sold out!Boooo…We did try their other baked goods and they were all winners!

Random coffee I’m drinking this January! I like it but I’m not sure if I will get this again for this season. I have so much coffee that I need to use. I follow some Trader Joes accounts on Instagram and I got influenced!HA

Prepared roast pork belly earlier this week. This turned out dry for my liking! Hubs and Dad in law liked it, so I didn’t feel that bad!

We had lots of sunny days this week despite it being so cold outside. We did family walks a couple of times just to get out and enjoy the sun.

Hubs took a picture of Detroit sunrise!

My sister after spending many months with us, finally went to her next destination! We had Korean for our last night. We ordered from our local Korean restaurant in the neighborhood.

Lunch before dropping her at the airport! Kids had Jollibee while we had Shake Shack! We are sad to see her leave but we’ll see her on our next trip:) Hopefully in the summer/fall.

Stay safe and healthy friends! Praying for the family and friends in California with what’s going on right now. So heartbreaking!

Hi Friends! How’s your first day of the year? We are still taking it easy here at home, not a lot of things going on. We had my In laws for dinner where Hubs prepared Prime Rib and we had sides like lobster, mashed potatoes and roast broccoli. Dessert was Costco chocolate cake. It was such a great dinner to have for the 1st day of the year!HA.

We also had our family walk to get some exercise because we’ve been home bound for the last 3 days (by choice). Hubs wanted to do some errands but I was able to convinced him to just finish our Kdrama show! We are currently watching “Family by Choice” so far we are loving this drama. I did a little laundry and journaling with my new planner (I got the cheap one from Amazon $5).

Mia calls Lobster tails Mermaids. “Mommy can you get me the mermaid?” HA

Reading to Grandma and showing her some of her favorite books.

I’m done buying expensive planners and by June I get bored and reject the planner by July! SO I got this cheap planner at Amazon and hopefully I will use it and get my $5 worth:)

Have a good night friends. Stay safe and healthy! Talk later:)

Hi Friends! Happy New Years Eve! We are hanging here at home and just waiting for the Times square ball drop. We’ve been doing this since we’ve had kids, it’s just easier, and they never make it close to midnight. Pre kids we did wait for the Space Needle/Seattle NYE event. It didn’t rain today so we had our family walk around the neighborhood and got to enjoy some sunshine! Last family walk of the year:) I convinced the Hubs to take down our Christmas decorations as our real tree is getting so dry and this Saturday there is a neighborhood tree pick up. It was such a mess! Lots of needles and we had to use our shop vac to clean it all!

Hubs had to do a Costco run and he said it was crazy! Worse than Christmas Eve day!HA . For our NYE dinner, we had cheese fondue with bread and roast veggies, and Snake river farm filet mignon. It’s been a long day of and we are ready to go to bed. Not going to wait for Seattle NYE program. We will be in bed before midnight!

I hope you had a great day (Bye 2024!) and got to relax as you welcome 2025! Stay healthy and safe friends:)

Hi Friends! Merry Christmas:) I hope you had wonderful time with the special people in your life celebrating our Saviors birth. We have a tradition that we sleep over in our living room and movie night (Christmas tree lights on the whole time) the last weekend before Christmas! We picked Home Alone as the movie this year.

Hubs and I got to enjoy a Sushi lunch date!

Last minute Christmas shopping!

Baking cookies with the kids!

Christmas Eve service with the family and we invited our friends to join us too!

Christmas eve dinner, we ordered roast duck and Chinese food. I also cooked pata tim (braised pork hocks). Enjoyed all of our food:)

We also opened our stockings on our Christmas eve gathering!

Christmas morning

Snackies

For our Christmas dinner we had fillet mignon, crabs and king crab legs, potatoes! Hubs made Bernaise sauce so we can build “oscar style” if you want.

We’ve been resting and taking it easy since yesterday because this Holiday season was really busy for us. I was so overwhelmed and I needed to take things easy this week. Matthew seems to have come down with a bug or something, he had a fever last night. Praying he will be better and this will be a quick recovery.

Have a good rest of your evening friends. We are enjoying some Kdrama and Harry Potter movies!HA.

Take Care and Stay Safe!

Hi Friends! Yesterday, we watched the Nutcracker Ballet show in Seattle! They do this every Holiday season. I’ve seen the show a couple of times but this is my first time with Mia. The show was great (I do find the first part a little boring) and the second/rest of the show is amazing especially the stage settings, clothes and dances! Mia enjoyed it but she said she liked Swan Lake better!HA.

After the show, Hubs picked us up and surprised us for a steak dinner at Capitol Grille Seattle. We really enjoyed our steaks and will probably go back again if Seattle traffic is not such a mess. Before dinner, we did stop at Kerry Park to enjoy the view and take pictures! It was crowded though, so we didn’t stay for a long time.

Have a great Monday! We are back to homeschooling, house chores, and getting the house ready for Christmas (slowly decluttering, donating toys). Just enjoying home and being productive yet focusing on the reason of the season. Anticipating the celebration of Jesus Birth:)

Stay safe and Take care!

Hi Friends! I’ve been MIA here because it’s been busy here since Thanksgiving. My family visited us and spent Thanksgiving with us. Lots of family time and road trips here in our state. It’s always a special time together with my sisters, lots of Filipino food involved too!HA

Some of the pictures we took!

Enjoying Christmas lights at Tulalip Resort Casino! So cold but the lights (7.8 million) will put you in a Holiday mood:)

I will share more of our trips this week. We are still resting after we got colds last week. Finally feeling like my old self, after losing my voice these past days!HA. The house is a disaster so we will be doing lots of cleaning and sanitizing this week too. Have a goodnight friends!