I had to leave the brats for about 5 days for a work event in LA. They managed well, I guess.

So Aubrey has been super polite about everything, saying "please" and "thank you" a lot! Tonight, I tried to put truck pants on her, but she refused and wanted something with flowers. What a girl!

Gerard will be starting school very soon. He's been so eager to start!!! I hope he does enjoy it.

Wish I could write more but I'm sooooo busy catching up with a lot of photography work. Feel kinda bad I don't get to spend more time with the kids, but I gotta do this.

The things they pick up from watching movies

We have been watching two-many movies at home, namely, of redheaded fish wanting to be human (Ponyo and The Little Mermaid). Both brats are crazy lovin' them and have started picking up lines. Both events below happened on back-to-back days (Sunday and Monday during Labor Day Weekend).

Here is Gerard's: We were sitting on the couch having an in-depth viewing of a photo magazine of natural disasters, which included photos from the Japan tsunami. Out of the blue, he commented, "I've never seen the ocean like this before." It took me half a second to realize the line came from Ponyo, when character Lisa said the same exact line as a tsunami approached their land. Of course I laughed and asked him if he stole that from the movie.

Here is Aubrey's: We were in bed, and told her I wanted to cuddle her. I then thought that "cuddle" rhymed too much with Scuttle, the seagull with a big mouth from The Little Mermaid. In one of the earlier scenes, he had a dialogue with Ariel where she calls out to him "Scuttle!" and he responds with "Ariel, sweetheart, how ya doing!?" Well, slightly different, but when I playfully shouted "Cuddle!" to the same tone as Ariel shouting "Scuttle," Aubrey responded with "Mermaid!" I am still chuckling over this.

After a few minutes of telling him it's rude and wrong to shout at me, Gerard was silent and eventually apologized for it. We hugged and I told him I love him.
He is growing up so fast!!

Meanwhile, our Aubrey is also growing up. A few days ago, when her brother was sleeping on the couch while sucking his fingers, she went up to him and tried to wake him up saying, "Fingers our, Darard!" Hearing this from the kitchen, I shouted for her to not wake him up and when I ran in, I realized what she was doing. She was just looking out for her brother.

They're pretty sweet, yeah.

what's up with us?

It's been a long while since we last blogged.

Well, we recently took a trip to Canada. Aubrey is still whining, and is very cranky for some reason.

I am left to hold the fort down while Egan made an emergency flight to Philippines. It is a sad trip, one where he says goodbye to his father who passed last weekend. I wish we could be there with him but I have stayed behind with the kids. So far, the kids haven't been giving me too much of a hard time here.

Tonight, when I went to pick up the kids from my parents' house, Gerard was asleep and didn't want to wake up. So I left him there, thinking he would be asleep all night. But I just got a call that he woke up and wanted to go home. Good =) I was feeling quite lonely even though I loved having alone time with Aubrey. Having two kids, it's just never right when they're separated. But I cherish our one-on-ones. It just drives me crazy that I can't have one-on-one at the same time with both of them! I love these brats and couldn't imagine where I'd be without them.

Vacationing

We've been in British Columbia since last week, and we return to the bay tomorrow. It's been fun for the kids to travel and meet their extended family.

This trip was spent hanging out in Seattle, 4 days camping at Vedder River, and discovering around Vancouver. I'm pleased to say that I have enjoyed the city.. it's very biker-friendly and all the architecture around here is modern and beautiful. I love old architecture too, but it's a fresh breath of air to see something new.

Photos coming soon.

Aubrey just begged me to take her to the bathroom so she could look at herself in the mirror (that's the only mirror we have). She was wearing her too-small-for-her-head hat and a bathing suit, and she really needed to see herself. So I took her, and she was all smiles. After a while, I asked if we were done, she responded with "No."

Hmmm....

Big bro moment

We imposed a new rule on the kids: they're not allowed to stand on the armrest or backrest of our couch. They like to do this, and it always riles us up. So everytime the rule is broken, they get a little spank. Well I did so to Aubrey because she hasn't gotten the rule yet. It was just a reminding slap on his fat thigh, it didn't hurt (enough) but she also ignored it as she kept at it.

Meanwhile, Gerard is looking at me a little upset and grudgingly says, "Don't spank Aubrey. Aubrey's my sister!" I think this is his phase.

Last week, he said something similar. We were in my paernts' van on the way home from The Little Bits' show, and Aubrey had just fallen asleep in the carseat. My dad turns from the passenger sear to see if she was awake, so he says "Aubrey? Are you awake?" And next to me in the last row of seats was Gerard, who whispered loudly to himself, "Don't wake up Aubrey, she's my sister!" I don't think my dad heard that but I was laughing my A off.

A couple of times already, I've heard him shout to other kids at the playground that Aubrey is his sister :)