The Joyful Noise Choir Performing

I just love that Kylie is singing in our church choir, AKA Joyful Noise. She has made some new friends, and gained so much more confidence in her singing. Here are some pics from their last performance at Sunday service at church. It was a preview for all of us for their upcoming performance, the musical, Holy Moses!

My little Easter bunnies!

Strawberries...YUMMMM!
Don't take a picture of me!
This was gooood!

So, as most of you know, we live in strawberry haven! And surprisingly enough to me, the fresh strawberries are back again. Of course my children were begging for some, so I bought some for them to enjoy over Easter break. Kylie made these bunny hats at school and she so kindly made one for Eric too! Though you wouldn't know it from his picture, he not only loved the strawberries, but thought the hat was pretty darn cool too! =)

Happy Easter everyone!

Crystal Cathedral for Christmas Eve Service

Crystal Cathedral. i haven't been to this church since college when our praise band from OKC was honored with leading praise for some special service. But this year, with my in-laws visiting from georgia, my father-in-law decided that we would go to Christmas eve service on Sunday. We decided that 3:00 PM was a good service time for us all so that i could leave eric with michael napping. we arrived at the church at 3:00 sharp, only to find out that the parking lot was refusing cars b/c it was at full capacity and there was an unbelievable line waiting outside the church doors. i was flabbergasted! we could not go to the 3:00 service even if we WANTED to! and the lines outside were for those already waiting for the next service at 4:30PM!

so here we are, my sister-in-law karen and i, standing near ONE (there were 2 lines!) of the lines at the front entrance of the church thinking we had to go home b/c the lines were so long!

well, my father-in-law decided we MUST stay for service, so we accordingly got into one of the lines and prepared to wait an hour-and-a-half for the next service to start. karen and i decided we needed to use the loo while we waited, and we were both stunned at the restrooms! i have to say that these were the nicest outdoor restrooms i have ever been in. and to think they are outside of a church!

we waited...and waited...and we finally got into the church for the 4:30 service. it was a little "showy" for me personally, but still, it was memorable. i don't think i can ever remember a time i had to wait for an hour-and-a-half just to go to church service! but when we got outside the lighted tree and church grounds were just beautiful in the night. we took a family pic in front of the huge Christmas tree. the lights were so bright and so dense, that it literally tripped out my eyes to look at the tree directly!
here's that beautiful, enormous tree from afar. it certainly was beautiful...!

Uncle Tanna and Auntie Karen!

Over Christmas week, while we were all spending quality time together in close quarters, eric got to have some nice, quality time with uncle tanna and auntie karen. since they live so far away, it was nice to see him bond so quickly with them.

while uncle tanna researched for work on his computer, eric studies his videonow. two men, keeping each other company...

as auntie karen does some internet surfing or checking email (not sure which), eric decides that he can use his big sister's barbie laptop "computer" to occupy himself as well!
a classic eric smile, he poses with uncle tanna and auntie karen outside of chuck-e-cheeses.

all in good fun, three cousins decide to take on uncle tanna and see if they can bring him down by the legs. it was a good fight, but uncle tanna prevailed! until next time!

Christmas week at Newport Beach condos

so, as some of you know, michael is from the suburbs of atlanta, georgia, and his parents along with his younger brother tanna and his wife still live there. michael's sister and her family live in LA. well, this Christmas, we decided to do something a little different. we used our newport beach timeshare and got 2 condos for a the week of Christmas so that we could all celebrate a Lim family Christmas together. It was a little strange to not be at home for Christmas, but overall, it was really fun! Here are some pics of the kids during our stay.


here, grandma Lim peels eric his beloved tangerines! that boy could eat tangerines till he bursts! don'tcha just love his idea of smiling?? hee hee! where are those big eyes, boy?!

ahhh, and thanks to auntie kymber (prego here and about to POP!), maddie, kylie and kaitlyn got to decorate the most giant gingerbread cookies EVER! tasty!

ok, only in california could it be the end of december, and still warm enough to take a SWIM! the girls had such a blast swimming, it was hard to get them out of the pool! cousin maddie said she couldn't wait for it to get warm again so that she could swim more.

wonderful place, that newport beach timeshare! not only beautiful, but they had a wading pool just for the little ones! heated up and nice and shallow. eric and his cousin kaitlyn enjoyed hanging out in this pool while the "big" girls swam in the adult pool.

these two...sigh...what can i say about them?? they were a love-hate relationship all through the trip. here, i managed to catch them in a rare, "loving" moment as they looked for wild bunnies down below while enjoying the ocean view.

it's not often that the whole entire Lim family clan gets to get together. so, despite the chaos at times, it really was enjoyable for me to see the kids hang out with grandma and grandpa. also, it was fun to watch the cousins play (kylie and maddie do great together!) and fight (eric and kaitlyn are still figuring each other out). as holidays go, it was a memorable one! hope y'all had a great Christmas too!

SOY CANDLES!!!

ok, so as you can tell, i haven't been as "on top of things" with the website b/c i've been ridiculously busy! i finally started my own little business, and am LOVING it! not only am i doing something good for the environment, but i'm enjoying the process and using some of my creativity too.
i really never realized how horrible scented candles are for our environment, and quality of our air in our homes! but recently, after being turned onto soy candles, i started to research and find out that there is absolutely NO reason to burn anything else! a few reasons why, i will share with you, and that will be it, or else i may never stop! hehehe...
REASONS:
1. the American Lung Association came out with a statement that the most common toxin in the home is parrafin candles, and 95% of the candles out there are parrafin!
2. Soy candles burn clean and have no added chemicals to make them emit their scent. even when they're not burning they smell GREAT!
3. parrafin is essentially the "bottom of the barrel" in the refining process of petroleum, AFTER asphalt is taken out!!! you don't stand at the gas station and inhale the fumes...so WHY would you burn parrafin in your home????
4. soy candles also burn up to 50% LONGER than parrafin candles
5. soy candles burn cooler and are water soluble...you can literally burn my soy candles and dip your hands in them and rub the wax into your skin b/c it has essential oils in it and is good for your skin! you could even massage with it!

How great is all that?! i am loving the soy! and hope that you will too!

here are a couple of glass container candles...i've been amazed at the response over these!

Here are some italian glass espresso cups in the mocha chino scent...i also make these in a chocolate scent for those hot chocolate lovers.

more coffee scented candles...these are just a few examples. the coffee cups sold like hotcakes this holiday season! definitely a bestseller for me!

these are travel tins and are wonderful for hotel rooms, bathrooms, etc.... personally, i prefer the simplicity of these, but everyone has different taste!

Two Barbie Princesses

As if the Halloween candy the kids got from our community parade wasn't enough, my MOMS club also threw a "trick or treat parade" for the kids on Friday and gave them another chance to wear their stuff!
Here's a pic I HAD to take b/c this is one of Kylie's friends from the MOMS club and they are both dressed as different Barbie princesses. Kylie is Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, and Hayley is Alina, Barbie from Fairytopia.
Aren't they adorable??

What do you DO all day?

One of my dear friends, and fellow homemakers out here sent me this, and I just loved it. Thankfully, Michael doesn't ask me what I do all day, though I know that there are days when many a thing gets taken for granted and unnoticed...that is, until it's not done. And, believe it or not, I've actually thought about doing this one time...just to see what would happen. But I couldn't get beyond the late morning before feeling the intense NEED to clean up.
Thought I'd share this:

What Do You Do All Day?
A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess.A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"Yes," was his incredulous reply.She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

They FINALLY WON!!!!!

OK, for the record, Michael is the Raider fan, and I am still in the process of learning about football. But as you can see, the kids have been influenced by their daddy...and I got to have a rare weekend away from the kids to watch the game this past weekend. Yes, the Raiders were officially the "worst" team as of last week...HOWEVER, they have finally broken their losing streak and are hopefully on their way to more wins to come! I say this with certain hope, b/c since the hubby is a season ticket holder, each loss seems to affect his moods which in turn affect me! So, with that said...GO RAIDERS!!!!!!

Cypress Ridge Community Halloween Parade

Being that we live in an active community, our Cypress Ridge social committee put on a little Halloween parade last weekend through our neighborhoods leading to one of our parks. I suppose it was a nice way to just allow us parents to feel better about spending money on costumes that the kid's will wear once for a couple of hours. hehehe...
That is, unless you are as fortunate as I was this year with Kylie who decided to wear one of her new dress-ups so that she could be "Barbie and the magic of Pegasus"!
Eric, was one of the cutest m&m's I ever saw! =) (hmmm, you think i'm biased?? hee hee!) and though he refused to wear the white bootie covers over his shoes, and only wore the white gloves until the novelty of them wore off...his little head poking out of that m&m costume was just too cute for me to bear! Strangely enough, he also threw a FIT when I tried to take the costume off, wearing it for several hours after the parade had ended until dinnertime when i INSISTED he take it off! Anyway, just a preview for the upcoming halloween.