{Pink Pig Visit}

Pink pig, an Atlanta holiday tradition. Our super awesome neighbor works for Macy's and gave us tickets.  Kids enjoyed it. Samantha kept telling us how much fun it was to ride.

{Goodwill}

We were telling William and Samantha that we need to donate some of their old toys and take them to Goodwill.

William said oh I know how to spell Goodwill. Good is one of my sight words and I have Will in my name.
G-O-O-D-W-I-L-L

Love how his brain is processing everything!

{Garden Lights: Atlanta Botanical Garden}

We finally made it to the Garden Lights at Atlanta Botanical Garden. The show was included in Forbes 2012 list of 10 Dazzling Holiday Light Display around the world. With an awesome groupon deal, we couldn't pass seeing it this year. What a fun place. The weather was crisp that night, probably one of the coldest we've had. We all bundled up for a perfect night of Christmas lights spectating. Seeing the lights on foot is definitely more enjoyable than watching it from a car. Kids loved that they can run and get close to the lights.

You can't helped but be mesmerized by the enormous amounts of twinkling lights surrounding the area.

The Edible Garden's "Brilliant Bugs display was very much enjoyed by the kids.

Right around the corner was the Glo bar serving cider and hot chocolate. Hot chocolates was the perfect drink of choice for this chilly night. The adults even got a splash of Bailey's on theirs :)

My favorite was the Orchestral Orbs on the main lawn. The topiary light show was choreograpjed to holiday music. You'll see a lot of children (and adults) dancing to it.

This gorgeous poinsettia tree this was huge!

Aside from the beautiful colored lights, William and Samantha loved roasting marshmallows to make s'mores by the fire pit.

We all really enjoyed this family outing. The Garden Lights at the Botanical is definitely a must see!

{More Christmas}

After a quick nap, we started making the trip to my in law's house for Christmas celebration part 2.  We really are lucky to have the best set up for holiday get together. Grandmommy and Granddaddy go big on Christmas. The grandbabies love it. It truly is a kid's dream on Christmas day.

Cousins all super excited for presents. Btw, I had plan on Samantha wearing this adorable gingerbread house dress. Lil Missy was not having it...she wanted to stay in her jammies.

It was time for presents and more presents.

The kids fell asleep on the way home. The following day, it almost felt like Christmas morning again. They were super excited to play with all the toys they got from my in laws.

{Christmas Morning 2012}

Santa came to our house!!!

Just when I thought Christmas morning last year was great, this year was even better. Both kids are a lil older and truly get the whole idea of Santa.  The excitement and energy at our house was unreal!!!

William got up first, loft living doesn't really allow you to hold off of your child from going into the living room :) He immediately saw the presents under the tree and quickly recognized that the orange Furby and Skylanders  on his wish list were under the tree.

Shortly after Samantha was up and ready to play with Dora House and Furby that Santa left for her.

The Furbys were definitely a big hit. They are way more sophisticated than the older version. You can feed them thru your iphone...Unfortunately, no off button still and they will talk non stop.

Samantha exploring her new Dora House. They went a lil board with the Mexican theme and the "furnishing" was a lil cheesy :)

They picked a present for each other. Samantha got William a Beyblade launcher. William picked up a Doc Mcstuffin rockstar for Samantha.

This year's biggest surprise for William was a Nintendo 3DS. He couldn't believe it! He's been wanting one and thought that it's only for bigger kids. Since he's "close" to 6, we said he can have one.

The biggest surprise for Samantha was her kitchen. She loves it and was ready to make breakfast for the whole family.

Ed and I don't give each other wish lists on Christmas. I love the element of surprise. The presents we pick up for each other are usually "wants" that one would never buy on their own. Ed picked out a  Kendra Scott earrings for me. The kids helped him pick out a Tory Burch sandal for me. They said that it's perfect for our next beach trip. I love it!

The kids and I got Ed a Mizzuno flat running shoes. He loved it! Funny, how the kids were adamant that Dad will love it since it's orange and a running shoes. Two of Ed's favorite things. He also got some gap slacks.

Our favorite present this year. This ornament that has been sitting under the tree all wrapped up and tied in a cute bow. William's been telling us that we can't open it till Christmas morning. We love it!

More treats and toys from our stockings.

Even Riley gets Christmas goodies.

We took a break from opening presents for breakfast and a quick family picture.

Then it was back to playing and more playing.

A perfect Christmas morning for our family of four.

{Merry Christmas}

Our 2012 Christmas Card.

{Noche Buena 2012}

Very blessed to be surrounded by family and keeping our Filipino Christmas Eve family tradition of Noche Buena. Growing up Christmas day was spent visiting relatives, Noche Buena was the day for our immediate family to celebrate the holidays. When my parents and I moved to the United States, I made sure to put in an extra effort in celebrating this by cooking traditional Filipino food for us. I loved how excited my Dad was about the menu. Although my Dad is no longer here with us, I know that he was watching over us and smiling big that our family is together and celebrating.

It's a lot of work to get the spread together. but I wouldn't change anything. I love how excited my Mom, brothers and sister are. I love how Ed enjoys this celebration as well and looks forward to the lechon(roasted pork). Now that the kids are a lil bit older, I love how they are realizing the importance of this day is for the family. At church, I heard William whispered to my brother, "Don't forget tonight is Noche Buena." This year was a special year, Ed's parents joined us. They've heard us talk about it and couldn't be more excited to share our beautiful tradition with them.

Our family of four post church.

Our silly family pretending to be Santa, Mrs. Claus and the reindeers.

Our blessings. They bring so much joy to our family.

How cool is it to have a brother born on Christmas eve and a sister born on Christmas day? Not the same year of course, LOL. Here's my Mommy with her birthday celebrants.

A quick sibling picture (minus my older sister in the Philippines) with our Mom.

My fabulous in laws in their first Noche Buena. Blessed to have them!

It warms my heart to see how much my brothers and sisters think the world of my kids. My children are very fortunate and they love their Titos and Titas.

A happy picture of the hostess with the mostess :)

Birthday cake for our birthday celebrants.

William's awesome rendition of the birthday song for Tito Noel and Tita Susan.

My Kuya Nestor mentioned last Thanksgiving that his favorite ice cream ever is ube (purple yam). I found out that the local Filipino store carried it and decided to surprised the whole family with a special dessert treat. This is the first time for William and Samantha to try it and they loved it. My in laws liked it too. Ed was the only one who wasn't fan :)

My side of the family exchanges and opens present on Christmas eve after dinner. Lots of presents and thoughtful gifts.

Cool boxes and wrappers are still a big hit with the kids :)

It has been a busy day, and we didn't had the chance to make some sugar cookies for Santa. This year Santa got Trader Joe's peppermint oreos as treats. We changed the kids to their adorable Christmas jammies, then they said their goodbye and thank you to our elf Timmy, and prepared the plate of cookies for Santa plus carrots for the reindeers.

That night Ed and I laid in bed with hearts overflowing with gratitude and happiness. What a blessing it is to be surrounded by so much love from our family. Our kids are a joy. We were just as excited for Christmas morning. We could hardly wait for them to open ours and Santa's presents to them.

{Gingerbread House 2012}

Our gingerbread house this year is inspired by our recent Disney trip.

The cookies that came with this kit smelled so good, it has hints of cinnamon. Unfortunately, the cookies weren't built strong.

Let the assembly begin.

We were joined this year by my family who came to town early for Christmas. We had so much fun.

Lola with her grand babies.

Of course taste testing are a must.

A lil icing is good too :)

Our gingerbread house this year...doesn't look like the picture in the box but we had so much fun making it.