Alex’s parents came over early today to prep for a belated Chinese New Year’s celebration in our home. Here are some of today’s highlights:

A surprise visit from Sandra in the morning before all the preparations began. We only had a short period of time to chat but it was nice considering that I missed a ladies’ movie night event with her and other friends just the evening before.

Alex’s mom is lightning fast when it comes to food prep and again her presentation skills are unmatched so it was fun to watch how the multi-course meal was put together.

Gia, Gia, Gia… this was literally the most uttered words from our boys’ mouths this evening, and grandma was very accommodating in fulfilling their requests.

Bun Rieu - I wrote down the recipe as it was put together by Alex’s mom. I can’t wait to give it a try myself one of these days.

Spring Rolls - just the thought of having to put together all the ingredients for spring rolls can give me a headache, but when it comes to doing the assembly work… that I can handle with no problem at all. I rolled about 20 of these babies today and it was delicioso.

Cousin Curtis - Our nephew is almost one year old now and is very fun to watch and interact with. Seeing Curtis makes me really miss those infant years with Nicholas and Wesley.

Wink Flash - My sister-in-law showed us a 100 page photo book of Curtis which only costed $20 to put together. It’s so cool and I can’t wait for that deal to come back again. I’d love to have something like that around the house especially since I’m not printing out pictures at all these days.

Pokemon tournament - imagine a pokemon tournament made up of 4 adults with 2 kids leading the action. Obviously this was both loud and hilarious at the same time.

Red Envelopes - the boys are now realizing that it’s not just about getting a cool looking envelope.

The Cleanup - it probably took as much time to clean up the kitchen as it did to prepare the foods. Every inch of our refrigerator is now occupied by leftovers… nothing wrong with that picture!

Happy Chinese New Year! And hurray for Mickey Mouse!