Deadline looming.

I've been preoccupied for the last 3 days doing a freelance illustration for my friend's magazine. She's a senior editor for an Asian magazine. It's very sweet of her to ask me to do this since I've been so out of the graphic loop since I've became a stay-at-home mom. The art is to accompany a poem on a two page spread. That's why the middle is blank. I'm not too thrilled with the left side of the art but I do like the right. So glad I finished it within before the deadline. The artwork has been fedex and will hopefully arrive at her office tomorrow morning. Hope they like it.

Long time.

Long time no blog. So much has happened since my last post. The most impactful event was a death in the family. I don't want to go into details but I happened very unexpectedly and Aria and I flew up north to deal for the funeral. I was surprise by how much Aria understands death. I guess that's not surprising since she has seem the passing of her Great Grandfather on A.'s side and her baby brother in the recent years. She understands that death means that the individual is gone from our present lives but not from our hearts. She believes in a heaven where all people and animals go after live. She explained everything to me so clearly too.

Sat.

We're cruel parents. Even though Aria's still sick we took her out for dim sum on Sat. with our friends and their children. The sad part was, Aria slept through the whole meal and ate nothing. We headed off to the mall afterwards so the kids can play together. We got there a little before our friends and while Al was carrying Aria around, she threw up on him. He had to do a makeshift cleanup job. My poor daughter is still not feeling well. She pepped up after that and played with Alicia for alittle bit. We headed home soon afterwards where Aria threw up some more.

Aria pretending to be Ariel The Mermaid.

Tony pushing Aria, Alicia and Ian.

Yuck.

I guess Aria caught a bug something and we were not prepared for the outcome. Friday night, right as A. and I were tiptoeing out Aria's room, I heard a gurgling sound coming from Aria and I knew, knew, knew, knew, that she was vomiting. I didn't understand how she could be sleeping one sec. and the next be vomiting every ounce of food that she ate that day up. I was endless and I, like an idiot, stood there and watch. My reflexes failed me. The cleanup was very disgusting. I love my daughter but the stench made me want to hurl. A. had the unpleasant job of cleaning the vomit off of her. I had the even worst job of cleaning the vomit from her bed, clothes, and bed sheets. Sign.

Skirball Friday.

Yes, we hit Skirball for their Noah's Ark exhibit after not going for 2 weeks. This time I took my friend's daughter Isabelle with us. Isabelle is a year older than Aria and Aria really enjoys playing with her. They had a blast at the exhibit and we left after a couple of hours. I took them home where they played for another 4 hours.

In the kitchen area of Noah's Ark.

She found some new stuff animals to love. Thankfully, I didn't have to buy them at the gift store.

Big hug.

Those crazy girls are trying to catch the raindrops.

What to do on New Year's Eve.

If you're in our shoes, you'll call up Alice and have her and her kids meet up at Ikea! Well, we met up at a bookstore, read some books and them strolled across the street to Ikea to have lunch. The place was packed. Guess everyone had the same idea that we did. Afterward, we hung out at the kids' area where the kids played. Alice, Cassidy and Michael soon left us. We purchased a few things (sheepskin rug, pink frames and some cards) and capped off our visit with vanilla ice cream cones. Yum!

The girls are crazy. I told them to pose for me in front of the giant Christmas balls outside of Ikea and Aria started to breakdance. Cassidy soon follow suit. Why can't they just stand there and smile nicely???

Here's another one of Aria's freestyle moves.