A Cup of Tea

Over the Christmas celebrations, I had a cup of tea ... twice.

First, I hosted a table at my church's annual Bel Air Christmas Tea.
If I'm entirely honest with myself, I may have my name attached to the tea
but really, my mom is the brains and creativity behind the actual table.
Mom is the dreamer and planner.

Thank you Mom.

Anyways, despite signing up at 7:01am, about a month prior to the actual tea,
one minute after they opened the online registrations,
our table was still placed in the canopy adjacent to the main Dicipleship Center.
Admittedly, it was kind of a bummer to be "just" on the outside of the "real" event ...
and a real hassle to only be able to set up on Saturday morning,
only hours before the tea began ...
but it was still so, so lovely.

Although Blake "helped" my mom and I to setup,
a remarkable thing happened .... both Sophie and Blake
were watched by someone other than Andrew, myself or the Grandparents
for the very first time!
Rosa - the super babysitter, kept the little ones calm while Pau Pau and Mommy
were out to play, with the help of my dad, who stayed home ... just in case.

Food being served.

The church provides these yummy scones ...
I always look forward to these little jewels!

Aren't these the most precious cupcakes?
My dear friend, Cora, and her son, Archie made them

My mom, the host ... and her daughter.
It's funny because we were talking about how little time we have together
... just the two of us. I love having time with my mom.

With Andrew, the handsome butler
Andrew always moans and groans that his
wife "makes" him butler our table ...
but secretly, I think he really enjoys it ...

The Fanous ladies.
Christy and I have been in Bible Study together for about 6 years now.
It is a good and precious friendship ...

Sweet mommy friends ... Jaclyn and Sarah

Sarah and I co-chair our church's mommy group,
Mothers and Others, together this year

With my lovely friends - Katherine and Cora

With Christy ...

The men always sing, "Go Tell it on the Mountain"

and then pass out chocolate roses to all the ladies!

A few weeks after the Bel Air Presbyterian tea, I went to Ann and Norman's, two very dear friends, annual Christmas Tea. It was an impressive spread of food with wonderful friends.

At Ann's for a cup of tea!

Homemade Miced Pie ... yum!

I must have eaten a dozen of these chocolate dipped strawberries!

Ahhh .... Red Velvet Cake!

Deviled Eggs ...

Ooooodles and Ooooodles of Sandwiches


Pretty friends!

I can't wait for the holidays to come again at the end of this year
... so we can have another cup of tea!

A bump on the head

My little guy, Blake, is such a brave little boy ...

And Blake, since this is part of your story,
it is a memory you'll want to know about ...
so I am telling you all about the bump on your head.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Andrew was at a speed reading class
so I figured I'd kill some time by bringing the kiddos over for a quick visit.
How little did I know these few hours would change my life.

Pau Pau had taken Sophie on a walk and I was playing with Blake.
As I had done many, many times before, I set Blake up on the island table,
seated in the bumbo seat. I was twirling and twirling - making Blake laugh.
I turned split second to wash my hands and as I turned back around I saw a sight
that still haunts me to this day ...
Blake, falling face first, strapped to his bumbo to the ground.
My heart aches even as I share this story and I can still hear the
sound of Blake hitting the hardwood floor.

We both screamed.

With my heart still racing and Blake still sobbing,
I grabbed him and made sure his eyes tracked mine and
checked that his arms and feet were moving.
It all seemed fine until I went to nurse him about 5 minutes later
and noticed a huge bump on his head.
By this time, my mom had returned with Sophie
so she encouraged me to ice the bump.

It got worst.

So we immediately packed the kids up and rushed to the ER.

Blake in the ER
Wouldn't you believe he had a poop blowout
and in the rush, I left without any spare clothes.
They gave him a little hospital outfit to wear.

And the first few hours, it was just Blake and I ...
And then, the doctor told me that Blake had sustained a skull fracture in the fall ...
and we would be taken to UCLA Westwood (we were at UCLA Santa Monica).

The good news, however was that the fracture
had not separated and his brain was not damaged.

After 4 hours in the ER, we were taken by an ambulance to UCLA Westwood.
Where Andrew finally met us, in the ER.

We were admitted for a stay in the PICU
Pediatrics ICU for precaution.

They hooked Blake up to machines ...
to measure his heartbeat
and monitor his brain.

Blake and all his hookups!

All this time,
Blake smiled
and was so very, very cheerful

At about 10pm,
12 hours after we arrived at the hospital,
we were met by the police,
who were investigating what had happened.

Then at 12:30am, a social worker came.
We had been reported for abuse and neglect ...
of both Blake and his sister, Sophie.

As I signed the paperwork that allowed the social worker
to look into all parts of my children's life ... my heart broke.
As mother, my heart just broke and I blame myself, still,
for what happened ... I still see him falling ... even today.
I understood why this was happening but it was still tough.

The funny thing was when the social worker was inspecting Blake for any signs of abuse,
she noticed a little speck on his poor sensitive skin.
She immediately asked in a very accusatory tone,
"WHAT IS THAT"
Lady, it's tape ... a speck of leftover tape from when he was in the ER.
Ridiculous :)

Blake's recovery, ultimately, is the most important
and that was what I kept telling myself.

He did amazingly well overnight and by morning,
we were released and ready to head home.

I saw my dad (and Sophie) coming to pick us up from our room.
He's the guy exiting the black car on the right side

And even though we were now home,
our journey with the Department of Child & Family Services wasn't quite over.
We were visited.
And then asked to see the doctor to verify that Blake was indeed fine.
It was really all a bit of overkill by the time it was all said and done.

Blake seems to be doing fine now ...
His parents are now overprotective parents.
We will have a followup appointment with the neurologist in March ...
but I don't expect any residual issues.

On a side note,
I have such faithful family and friends ...
that continually checked in with us
that prayed for Blake and for our family
and were so willing to drop everything to be there with us.

Thank you to my parents
who took Sophie under their care
no questions asked, with no complaints
and helped her to understand that
Mommy and Daddy were at the "hop-pit-tal" with Baby Bake
and assuring her that everything would be okay.
Distracting her with lots of fun activities.

We are so blessed with such a great support team.
Thank you.

And Blake ... Mommy is so, so sorry.
Thank you for your smiles and forgiving heart.
Love, love, love you ... bump and all!

It all began with a Christmas Kids Club ....

There never seems to be enough hours in the day ... or I never seem to have enough energy in my body. I have intentions of doing many things after the kids head to bed but I'm just too tired.

I think next year, I might ask Andrew for the gift of silence and freedom - just for an afternoon to myself .... sigh, what a nice dream it would be ...

Moving on ...

December was one huge adventure and since my blog went on an unexpected hiatus - here it is everything that happened ...

It all began with a Kids Club adventure, a few weeks before Christmas. Our fearless Kids Club leader, Mia, and the whole Viljoen family were headed away for a month to South Africa (which is "home" away from LA for them) and with a busy month on the horizon, there was nothing but the present to celebrate Christmas.

I love this photo of James Wolf ...
Sweet little guy!

First activity, decorating masks!
Sophie got an elf mask ...

My sweet little elf!

They also made ornaments ... with their photos in it!

LOVE this photo!
Sophie calls Addie her "best friend Addie" ...
they will be friends forever!

They made snowglobes ... seriously???
Mia is SO talented and creative!!!

Sophie making her snow globe

Sweet Anabelle

They also did a "white elephant gift" ... kid style

They chose a book and a big gift

Sophie's "Big" gift was bigger than her!

LOVE Vesta!!!

Sophie loved her book too!

Eating lunch

Playing post-lunch ... sweet friends!

Gretchen's 40th Birthday Party

Today, Gretchen reminded me to blog ...

so what best to do but blog about my very dear friend!

In October ... late yes but birthdays are year round (!!!) -
Gretchen celebrated her 40th Birthday ...
and she invited some of her closest friends (including us!)
to help her celebrate with a dinner extravaganza at El Cholo.

This is a special year for Gretchen because not only is it #40,
the Hoovers are moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee mid-December.
Tom, Gretchen's husband, got a huge job promotion by accepting a new job ...
taking the Californian to Tennessee.
It will be one grand new adventure for Gretchen and her family.
It's bittersweet for me because we've become such good friends
and our weekly day-to-day, without the Hoovers, will never be the same ...
but don't you think it's a great reason to visit Chatannooga?

Menu

Celebrating!

40 Birthday Candles

Happy Birthday Gretchen!
May 40 be your most incredible year yet!

Brazil

A few months ago, we heard that our friend, Pieter, who we thought might possibly be a bachelor forever, was finally getting married! He had met a Brazilian girl, Dani, in business school in France and now had moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil to be with her. So when we got their wedding invite, I decided that we had to see Pieter get married with my own eyes. And yes, I say "I" because Andrew wasn't so sure we should go ... but I definitely wanted to experience a Brazilian wedding (since the wedding was in Sao Paulo, Brazil) ...

Andrew, I think, secretly was a travel agent in his former life ... he loves using miles and hotel points ... he loves scouring travel sites for the best deals and then waiting on it until he is sure that the deal is the best ... he just really loves any good deal. So after we decided we were headed to Brazil, he had found us flights to Brazil using miles and within 24 hours, we were on our way. Hotel bookings, however, took a few weeks to finalize. It's kind of funny because growing up, my mom taught me the joys of staying at a nice hotel ... and it has carried on into my adult life. I am slowly teaching Andrew this same joy ... more on this subject later.

Onto our actual trip to Brazil ...

You might wonder how we made it through 14 hours on a plane on our way ...
Curious George on the iPad!

Sophie distracted by Daddy iPhone in Chile during our 6 hour layover.
Fortunately, we had access to the American lounge because of Andrew's airline status.
It saved the day.

One major thing that happened mid-flight was Sophie's croup incident. You see, we all left LA with at least a slight cold ... let's be honest, since Sophie started preschool, we've been one continuous coughing, sneezing, runny-nose mess. And of course, we were still a cold-ridden-mess leaving for Brazil. And mid-flight, on our way to Chile, we noticed that Sophie's cough was sounding drier, raspier and very croup-like. Croup requires medical attention ... we were heading to Brazil ... and didn't know anything about the health care situation. So, we immediately emailed Dr. Bui, Blake's pediatrician (yep ... Sophie has a different pediatrician in the same office but we've really hit it off with Dr. Bui so I tend to lean on her more for the kids medical needs ... and she is the best pediatrician in the world!) who told us to keep an eye on her. If it got worst, we'd have to find a doctor so we were definitely praying that Sophie wouldn't get any worst. Thankfully, after a good nights sleep, Sophie woke up to our first day in Brazil sounding less raspy, less croup like. We figure it was the dry air in flight ...

It's so different traveling with kids.
I don't think anyone slept very well in flight ... Sophie tried to sleep
but couldn't find a comfortable spot.
So, by the time we got to Brazil in the early evening,
we all were already for bed.
This is how I found Andrew and Sophie who were (apparently) already sleeping
as I was getting ready for bed.
And just so you know, Andrew, Sophie, Blake and I slept
13 straight hours that first night.
It was a miracle.

Relaxing with the iPad our first morning in Brazil

In every hotel, there were apples.
Red and Green ones.
It was weird.
But Sophie picked one up.
Every
Single
Time

Brazilian BBQ
The shame of the matter is that we went to Fogo de Chao.
After sitting down, we realized that Fogo de Chao exists all over the world.
Including right here in Beverly Hills ...
It was delicious but after we found out,
it didn't seem all that authentic.

We went to Pieter and Dani's Cocktail Hour Friday night
to start out their weekend of wedding celebration.

Dani and Pieter
Apparently Dani had the flu the night of the cocktail party.
Poor thing was feeling pretty badly ...

Blake and Daddy in Sao Paulo
One of my most favorite images of my two favorite guys!

Heading to El Jardines
The only sight seeing we did in Sao Paulo

Ahhh ... Acai

Sophie LOVED it!

The reason why we went to Brazil ...
Pieter and Dani's Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Cilliers

It was a beautiful wedding ...
an experience ...
with a choir in the rafters.

And the reception ... well, the reception was really something.
No expense spared and the party ... wow.
There is really something to be said about a Brazilian Wedding!

First Dance

With the Bride and Groom!

Sophie partied hard, dancing the night away, until past midnight.
In fact, neither Blake nor Sophie headed to bed until about 1am
Thank God for jet lag!

My family.
All dressed up.

There was an amazing samba band that arrived about midnight.
Even though I was preparing the kiddos to go, we just had to stay to watch.
Andrew was staying a few more hours to party it up
... and experience a real Brazilian wedding reception!

Congrats to Dani and Pieter Cilliers!

The morning after the wedding, we woke up, all cranky and bleary eyed ... but excited (at least Mom and Dad were) ... to head to Rio de Janiero. Sophie was, at the time, obsessed with the movie "Rio" so we kept telling her we were going to find Blue Bird, the main character in "Rio". I don't think she bought it ... good thing, because we never did see Blue Bird!

We stayed (at least for the first 2 nights) at the Copacabana Palace
It is the best hotel in Rio ... and we stayed there thanks to my love of (expensive)
nice hotels (:)) and my husband's crafty ability to find good deals ...

The first thing we did, was looked up ...

And saw this ...
the Jesus statue.
It was really quite remarkable.

The view of Rio from the Jesus of Redeemer statue
with Sugarloaf in the distance.

We headed to the famous Copacabana Beach ...
and then the Chocochito meltdown happened ...
A 2 year old, a massive tantrum and drippy ice cream -
oh joy!

I think it was Blake's first time on the beach
Yes, we live in a beach community
Yes, it took 6 months for this experience.

Sophie recovered from her messy tantrums to build castles.
She LOVES sand castles!

So, the first day at the Copacabana Beach, I noticed a girl wearing nothing
short of butt floss and triangles ... otherwise known as the Brazilian Bikini.
I told Andrew I would NEVER wear anything like it ... little did I know,
I had forgotten my own swim suit. So ... I searched and searched - until I had my own
teeny weenie tight bikini! Thankfully, I had a bit more coverage on my bum
and was able to stretch the triangles out for a bit more coverage
... but I was still slightly embarrassed and I think you would be too!

We discovered these yummy little treasures.

And went there two times

And then, on our 2nd trip, this ham and cheesy goodness came
fresh out of the oven. It might have been the best thing
I have ever eaten in my entire life ...

I just love my girl.
Look at those flip flops!

We spent our last night in Rio at the JW Marriott
thanks to my husband's crafty use of hotel points.
The Marriot has a rooftop pool which was a little bit underwhelming.
But Sophie and Andrew still loved it ... and Blake and I loved watching from the sidelines!

We went to Impanema Beach on our last day.
It was very windy but at least we were able to enjoy some coconuts!

My little guy!

I love him so!

Smiley guys ... Blake and Daddy!

I thought I'd end with this photo.
I have no idea why ...

Abrigado Brazil!