Time just passes by when you are having fun.  I can't believe that August is already here.  I have also noticed that I have been getting pretty lazy when it comes to writing family updates.  It’s the beginning of August and I have only written three updates this whole year.  Yes, some of them have been long, but that’s still no excuse to not write more.  Well, I guess I can use the excuse that we have been extremely busy for the past two months.  Last weekend was the first weekend that we had no social event to attend.  Well, technical, we did attend my uncle’s birthday dinner, but it was only on Friday night.  Let’s just say we didn’t attend any social gathering that took up one whole day. 

Let’s see.  Where should I start first?  There has been so much happening ever since my last update.  There was Nicholas’ birthday party, Zachary’s birthday party, Karen’s (the younger sister after me) baby shower, May’s (my youngest sister) birthday party, and of course, we bought a new house!  Okay, let’s start with the new house.  For those who still haven’t heard yet, we bought a new house in June.  It’s about 10 minutes south of where we currently leave.  The development is called Bishop Ranch and it’s off of Laguna.  The builder is JMC Homes.  Thus far, we have picked out all of our options, carpeting, tiles, and vinyl selections.  There are pictures of the house in the Miscellaneous Page of the website.  There you can see the progress of the house as it’s being built and the model home.  Also there is a picture of what the house should look like when it’s completed.  We are currently looking at moving in mid-November.  With the current weather conditions, I don’t think we’ll have a problem hitting the date.  It’s just been so hot around here lately.  If you want to find out more information about the house that we bought, you can go to jmchomes.com and look up the Bishop Ranch development.  The house that we got is the 3926 Plan. 

Okay, moving on.  We’re going to back track all the way to the middle of June, Nicholas’ birthday party.  Nicholas is now four.  I would have to say that he had a blast at his 4^th birthday party.  We had two different pools set up outside for kids and adults to play with.  Of course, we got the normal water fights that made everyone else who weren’t part of the fight laugh.  It was fun watching Richard (my brother-in-law) and Michael get into it.  It was not very hot that day either so many of us were able to go outside and watch the fun.  Nicholas spent so much time in the pool and outdoors that he got sunburned on his back.  We did put some suntan lotion on him, but I guess it wasn’t enough.  I know he also had a lot of fun opening up all the presents that he got for his birthday. He has been playing with these new toys quite often.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to the party and those who sent him cards and gifts.  Once again, Nicholas’ would not have as much fun as he did if you guys did not come to his party to celebrate his birthday with him.  And thank you to those who helped me get rid of some of that food by taking it home with you.  We had so much left over from the party.  It was all Chinese food and I have learned not to ever order so much Chinese food ever again. 

Well, Nicholas’ birthday party was on the weekend after his birthday.  For his birthday, we took him to watch “Finding Nemo.”  It was the first time he ever went to the theaters.  We have not been brave enough to try the theaters out with either kid because we did not know how they would react to the loud speakers and the darkness.  To my surprise, Nicholas took it every well.  He really liked going to the movies, but he got kinda bored after an hour into the movie.  There weren’t too many exciting scenes so his attention span kinda wondered off.  By the end of the movie, all he wanted to do was leave.  I am thinking about taking him to watch the Disney cartoon, Sinbad.  I think that he would like this movie more because there’s a lot more action throughout the movie compared to Finding Nemo.  I am debating on whether or not to take Zachary along.  Michael doesn’t think that Zachary will be able to sit there for the duration of the entire movie.  From talking to other parents who have done this before with younger children, they have all said that the kids will do fine.  Most of them usually fall asleep half way through the movie and some of them will actually sit there and watch the whole movie.  Right now, I can’t even find the time to take Nicholas so we’ll see when we finally decide to go. 

Okay, moving down the timeline.  The weekend after Nicholas’s birthday was Father’s Day.  We didn’t do anything special.  Michael didn’t want anything for Father’s Day besides a day with just the family.  Well, that’s what he got.  All we did that weekend was stay home and relax a bit.  We did go over to my parent’s house for dinner because that was what my father wanted, a dinner with the family.  It’s amazing how simple men can be sometimes. 

The next weekend, June 22 was my younger sister, Karen’s, baby shower.  I hosted the party so of course I spent most of Friday and Saturday cleaning and preparing for the party.  This time, I got smarter and did not order any Chinese food.  I also did not make as much food as I did for Nicholas’ birthday party.  (Michael will disagree to this one.  He claims that I always make too much food.)  This time, I did not rent the jumping house for the kids.  I rented the jumping house for Nicholas’ party, but no one really used it so instead, I decided to get a larger pool that would fit quite a bit more people.  The pool that we had at Nicholas’ party was a very small one that fit maybe five or six kids.  Once an adult or two gets into it, there isn’t any room left for the kids so we ended up getting a 13-feet wide circular pool.  It was about 3 feet tall.  I think that was the best idea I had in a long time.  So, not only did we have the two smaller pools out, we also had this big gigantic one all filled up.  The amount of people that got dunked into that pool was off the record.  Of course, anyone older than me in my family usually doesn’t get dunked.  So basically anyone who was not pregnant and was younger than me got dunked.  Of course I didn’t get dunked because the person who was dunking everyone was Michael and he didn’t dare get me.  All my little nieces (a.k.a. second cousins) got dunked.  Some of them were holding onto my furniture while they were being dragged out.  I remember Rosa was actually dragging the table with her while Michael tried to get her close enough to the pool.  Jenny was holding onto the refrigerator to avoid being dunked.  Eventually, she got dunked so we went in to change her clothes.  Then, she was stupid enough to walk right in front of the pool, all dried up, asking where the dryer was.  Well, I’m sure you can imagine that she got dunked again.  Overall, I think the baby shower was a big success also.  We played some games that involved the guest of honor and everyone ended up getting a prize since there were only six of them that were playing.  I didn’t end up with too much leftovers because everyone helped out by taking some home (and I didn’t make as much).

We didn’t have anything planned for the last weekend of June so I was hoping for a very quiet weekend, but oh, no, that was not the case.  My youngest sister told us that she was going to have a birthday party at the Park that weekend so we ended up going there.  And to top things off, Michael had to work so he was not able to make it until late in the afternoon.  After he came, we went out to the lake and did some swimming.  Well, I guess it wasn’t that great that he came out that afternoon.  While we were swimming in the lake, his wedding ring slipped off and we were unable to recover it.  We ended up spending the next afternoon looking around for a new wedding ring that matched his original one.  Also, after that day, I started having this itching problem.  I was scratching all over my body.  At first, I thought I got sunburned because I was wearing a swimsuit for the first time and my back and neck was exposed to the sun quite a bit.  Well, that was not the case because I was then scratching my belly and my legs.  It went away for a day or so after a few days so I didn’t think anything about it anymore.  Then it came back again and this time, it was at work.  After a week or so of scratching all over, I finally decided to go to the doctor and she gave me some medication to help with the itchiness.  She told me that it would clear up in a few days.  Well, a few days later, I was itching again so I went in to the doctor again and this time, she gave me some other prescriptions.  She thinks that it has to do with stress because I was quite stressed out that whole week over the new house, work, and other stuff.  As you can tell from this family update, we haven’t had a peaceful weekend in a long time.  She thinks it’s because of all the stuff that I’m doing and the stress that I was having.  It was causing my adrenalin to shoot way up there.  I have never heard of such a thing, but hey, after taking the medication that she gave me, I have not had the itching problem again. 

Okay, the weekend after that was 4^th of July.  My family had a barbeque at our house and we set off some small fireworks for the kids.  I didn’t want to buy too many fireworks or any that was big because the kids are just starting to be okay with fireworks. I don’t want to scare them off with any big firework.  That same day, with the help of other family members, I made over 150 egg rolls for the next day.  Dan was hosting the annual 4^th of July party at his house and it’s somewhat a potluck thing.  Every year, I just make a bunch of egg rolls and take it to the party so this year was no exception.  Nicholas had a blast at the party.  So did Zachary.  For the first time, Zachary actually was in a swimming pool.  You see, when we bought the big swimming pool for Karen’s baby shower, Zachary refused to go in.  Then when we went to Rancho Seco, he was okay with the water in the lake and then Dan’s swimming pool.  I guess the first time, he was just a bit scared of big bodies of water.  Nicholas and Zachary, especially Nicholas, didn’t even want to get out of the pool. 

Okay, the weekend after that was Zachary’s birthday party.  It was his first birthday party ever.  I have to say that everyone had a fun time during the party.  This time, we had all three pools out and everyone was having a blast playing with the water.  Richard, Michael’s brother, also got smart this time and went into the pool willingly by himself.  It was really nice that we had all three pools because it was hot that day.  I think Zachary had a lot of fun at his party.  He got a lot of attention from everyone there and I had a few friends that I haven’t seen in a while come to the party too.  They also brought their kids with them so I got to see a lot of babies at the party.  We got the chance to show everyone the new house that we were going to buy.  It was very interesting watching Zachary open his birthday presents.  I have to say that thus far, Nicholas and Zachary have two totally different personalities.  Nicholas is always hyperactive and smiling while Zachary is always serious looking and quiet, except for when you don’t pick him up.  During the present opening event, everyone around Zachary was more excited about opening the presents than he was.  He just sat there, quiet and serious looking.  After each present was opened, he didn’t change his expression at all.  Of course, now, those toys are what he plays with most of the time.  Well, you can see pictures from Zachary’s birthday party in his birth page.  You’ll see what I mean when I say he’s serious looking.

Okay, after that weekend, things started calming down.  Work has not been as hectic for both Michael and I.  We have been able to spend more time with the kids and each other lately.  For the first time, we have not had any social event in two weeks and I was able to work on the backyard this past weekend.  (Well, we had other life altering events go on.  I’ll talk about them later.)  We are trying to get rid of all the rocks (pebbles, some may call it) in the backyard to make room for grass.  It has taken me quite some time to pick them all up and to dispose of them.  I am also done with this. I think about two hours or so of rock picking and I’ll be done.  After that, we’re going to look at the existing sprinkler system and see if we can just add on to it or if we need to replace the whole thing.  Also, I need to know how deep the sprinklers are because if it’s not too deep, then I won’t be able to use a machine to plow the dirt.

Okay, even though we haven’t had any social event to attend, Michael did have some work done on his gums.  Two Tuesdays ago, Michael had a surgery to clean out his gums and he is still trying to recovery from that surgery.  He hadn’t been able to get much solid food.  His gums are getting better, but he claims that there is still some pain around.  For a while there, he was on Vicadon and those drugs has a lot of bad side affects.  He was in toothache hell for over a week.  He could not eat anything, but soup or stuffing for over a week.  He also had to warm his milk up because the cold was too sensitive.  The cold is still very sensitive now so he doesn’t eat any ice cream nowadays.  He was in so much pain for the first week that most of the time, he was on the bed complaining about the pain.  He couldn’t play with the kids because of all the bad side affects of the drugs that he was taking.  He lost quite a few pounds from this whole experience.  He can eat more solid food now, but there are still foods that he can’t eat such as steaks.  I’m hoping that with this experience, he will appreciate food more.  Maybe, he’ll try broccoli now.  (I highly doubt it, though.)

Okay, one more big news before I end this update.  My younger sister, Karen, just delivered her first baby boy last Wednesday, July 30th, at 4:16 PM.  I am now officially an aunt (older aunt, I mean.)  I was fortunate enough to be able to witness the entire event.  It was very enlightening and different.  I have always been the person who was delivering the baby and who was in extreme pain.  I was never a bystander watching from the outside.  It’s very interesting to watch how a little baby comes into this world and how the doctor’s handles the entire situation.  Overall, it was a very eye-opening experience and I’m glad that I was able to see my little nephew come out into this world.  Just want to say Congratulations to Karen and John.  Jake is a beautiful baby and we hope that you guys have lots of fun with him.  May he bring you guys a wonderful bundle of joy in the years to come.  Also, watch out because Auntie Mui is going to spoil your son like you spoiled mine!!!