a French guy won me over

When I was about 14, I remember Mom and I were eating bagels and soup at the Nordstrom's cafe when an older couple came over to our table and commented on how lovely my cornsilk hair was and asked could they possibly touch it. My Finnish/German genes blessed me with blonde hair (extra blessing on the blonde leg hair). Hair dressers comment on how people pay for my hair color and oh how they wished they could bottle my color and sell it...blah, blah, blah. Well the golden train has left the station for me. A sad byproduct of carrying, birthing, and nursing my two beautiful girls, is that the golden luster has left my hair ashy, my skin looks dull, and my belly is no longer worthy of seeing the sun. Lucky for me there are millions of miracle creams to moisturize my skin and I have a drawer full of one piece bathing suits. I had not touched my hair until today.

A horrific eyebrow tinting experience back in 2003 had left me terrified to dye my hair in the worry that I'd look even more like a Russian whore then I did after that spa treatment. I was also nervous (being one of like maybe 25 natural blondes in the Philippines) to ask a Filipino to give me highlights because it seemed like a disaster in the making. My girlfriend Sunny (also one of the blondes) recommended me to Philippe's so I called and made an appointment with Philippe himself. My nerves melted away as he flipped my hair around, took a look at an old photo of me at our engagement party and said "You're going to love it". This guy is super French, a.k.a super stylish, conceited, and sexy (he's not gay). What girl wouldn't feel confident in his salon chair? The end results: perfection. My hair looks like my hair did before the girls. Thank you Philippe!

Happy Halloween

We are having a super typhoon type of Halloween this year. Luckily the wind has blown through as well as some rain and now it's like any other gray rainy day in Manila. Sadly, the Halloween party for the Embassy was postponed until Monday in case the typhoon was nasty. Addie will have to wait to trick-or-treat until then. Slightly against her will, Addie conceded to a photo with Bella on her lap. They make a pretty cute duo.

2nd Annual Halloween Party

We hosted our 2nd annual kiddie Halloween party this past Thursday. This year we had a spooky pumpkin craft along with snacks and decorating sugar cookies. Addie's classmates were all invited as well as a few other neighborhood friends. The results were a bunch of cute toddlers in costumes and a really fun morning. Addie kept asking if it was her birthday as we baked muffins and tied balloons around the room in preparation for the party. She was excited to have her friends over but disheartened when she realized there would be no presents for her to open! Bella got in costume for the party as well. Thank you so much Kiki for the adorable mermaid costume. She was so cute. During the party, Addie gladly took on the role of hostess. She announced after making pumpkins, "everyone come on let's dance". Who was I to deny her a dance party with her friends? A little spooky kids Halloween music (compliments of Aunt Megan) and the kids were running in circles (literally).
Look at Bella's thighs! Stella is working so hard onher pumpkin.

seeing double

Check out this great photo of Justin at around 5 months of age. He's dressed in his Christening gown. Shocking how much Arabella looks like her Daddy!

plan B

God forbid the wrath that Yaya experienced today when she had to tell Addie she was cleaning her Cinderella costume! She's slightly attached to that dress. We quickly compromised with one of the other princessy costumes she's accumulated over the past few months. The princess hair tie made the situation even better while "big blue" was hanging to dry all day. Can you say "Drama Queen"...hmm I wonder who she gets it from?

Persian family dinner

Addie continually impresses us with her taste for international cuisine. Put chicken and potatoes in front of her and she'll spit it out; lamb kebab, hummus, and safron rice she gulp down and asks for more. She asked for a bite of the tabuleh and at first nodded her head in approval but then the onion and parsley taste must have kicked in and she said "I d'ike it", which is Addie's abreviation for "I don't like it" (she loves to make her own abbreviations-today was "Chris'ime" short for "Christmas time"-who knows where she got this knack). Anyway, the weather in Manila was breezy and beautifully sunny on Sunday. We packed up the girls and headed to Hossein's Persian House of Kebabs in Greenbelt for dinner. This was after we got all geared up to go out for lunch earlier that day. I pumped, packed the diaper bag, got Addie's extra clothes ready (in case of a potty accident) and just waited for Arabella to wake up from her mid morning nap. As we were getting ready to leave at noon, Addie started having a meltdown and suddenly we realized Addie's nap would be in 30 minutes and there would be no way we'd being going out to lunch. Somehow in a blur of potential Persian food excitement this fact slipped both Justin and my minds. Sadly, we kicked off our shoes, fed Addie some lunch and laid her down for a nap...then an hour later Bella laid down again...we once again remembered how there is such a tiny window where both girls are awake and rested at the same time for us to get out as a family. Long story short after this massive parental brain fart, we arrived at Hossein's at the early bird special hour of 4:30 PM. After the long wait, we were satisfied with the delicious food. A quick lap around Greenbelt was made in our double stroller that feels like a Hummer among all the tiny Filipinos (who by the way carry their infants for the most part-a double stroller is non-existent here) and then raced home to get Bella to bed before a meltdown. Justin and I both sighed with relief at the realization that the girls will eventually be on the same nap schedule...one day.

United Nations Day

Addie's AmeriKids program put on a United Nations Day last week. The kids had been practicing for weeks. The theme of the show was uniting all people to help preserve our natural wonders like the jungle, dessert, ocean, etc. Addie was a jelly fish in the Under the Sea dance. It was adorable. She did so well. Now-about the umbrella she was carrying: Teacher Weng informed me Addie would need a little umbrella for her costume, so for our Friday shopping trip that week Addie and I went in search of an umbrella. The Cinderella umbrella caught her fancy (she's obsessed right now) and no other umbrella would do. The umbrella turned out to be too heavy for her to hold the entire dance. Oh well, It HAD to be Cinderella.