Instant Pot Ribs!

Adrian made ribs in our Instant Pot last night in an hour! It normally takes at least 4 hours in the Big Green Egg.

The ribs were moist and falling off the bone and super delicious. I told him it was the best regular Monday night dinner ever.

When you choose coding over watching TV with Max

That's my girl.

The Nutcracker, BAC, Dec 2-3, 2017

This past December, Veronica was in her ballet school's production of The Nutcracker. It is a pretty massive undertaking so the school only does it every other year. We have been going to their Nutcracker production since she started at the school, so we saw it when she was 4, then again when she was 6. I was pleasantly surprised that they employ professional dancers for the solo parts (Snow Queen, Sugar Plum Fairy, etc.). I think that's great exposure for the kids to see and actually be in a production with a professional dancer.
This was the first year Veronica was old enough to audition and she was so nervous. She was ECSTATIC when she got a part! She was one of the younger dancers, and she had a small part, but she had a blast in her first experience being in a ballet production (quite different from a recital)! They did 2 performances that weekend. Quite tiring for a little girl, but she was awesome. Here are a few photos and a video.

Right before her audition!

 A couple of photos from rehearsal:

Veronica Reindeer ready for the show!

And here are the reindeer bringing in the Snow Queen to Clara and her Nutcracker!

Here is just the reindeer portion of the Sunday show:


Post show with her biggest fans! We were all so proud of her!

Click here to see more photos and videos from The Nutcracker. I actually also have the ENTIRE Sunday performance as a video in the album, if you'd like to watch it.

Winchester Tree Lighting, IP Tiange, Dec 2017

The first week of December 2017 was so busy for us, that I have to split it up into 2 blog posts! We were so happy to have 3 grandparents visiting for the weekend and the first event was our town's annual tree lighting. And we're not talking just one Christmas tree, we're talking all of the trees in the town common! It is quite an event. There are vendors selling overpriced light-up toys (of course). It begins with 6th graders singing Christmas carols on the town common. After the carols, our town's three fire trucks arrive (lights flashing and sirens wailing) as they do a loop around the entire town common, with Santa Claus riding in the basket at the end of the big ladder fire truck! And as Santa goes around the common, each tree lights up in succession as he passes! It's quite the spectacle and the kids look forward to it every year. Then a line forms to meet Santa Claus, which we never do. Lining up outside in the cold just seems kind of crazy. Sometimes it's cold, but most years it's really stinkin' freezing. This year was just kinda cold, so that's good! Here are a few photos, some taken by Gramps (thanks, Gramps)!

The next event was the IP (Iskwelahang Pilipino=Filipino School) Tiangge, our Filipino School's annual holiday bazaar. It occurred to me that my mom would be visiting during the Tiangge so we figured out how to get her a table to sell her new cookbook! Her cookbook was a huge hit and she sold every single copy she brought. In fact, her cookbook has been so popular, that she's sold all of the copies she brought over from Manila and has a list of folks waiting for the next shipment. The Tiangge is also a great opportunity to have some Filipino food and the kids of the school performed for the audience.

Veronica and Max's group performed the song they had been preparing for the IP holiday party for the following weekend. The videos are in the link below.

Click here to see more photos and videos from the tree lighting and the IP Tiangge.

Today in Filipino School for Max

How Magellan learned his lesson, the hard way. "I will not accept your cross!" - Lapu Lapu, first Filipino hero 

Way to go,  Lapu Lapu!

Click here to read about Lapu Lapu.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2017

For Thanksgiving we were lucky to have my mom, Jose, Erik, and Charlie, as well as Jose's best friend from high school, Dusty, Dusty's wife, Marie-Aimee, and their 5-month-old son, Hugo. Dusty had been working on a project locally, so Marie-Aimee and Hugo traveled all the way from LA to spend TG with him, and us! Adrian, Mom, and I all cooked for dinner and it was delicious. We had an early dinner followed by a little TV (and naps for some), then we enjoyed the new fire pit on the patio with s'mores!

Our Thanksgiving tradition is to get a Christmas tree on Friday. We have bought our tree at the same local garden center, Mahoney's, for the past 8 years and we've always been happy with their trees. Since we usually travel to VA for Christmas, we like to get our tree early so we have longer to enjoy it. It was fun to visit Mahoney's with Ninong, Tito Erik, and Lola. The kids get to pick one new ornament each year and Mahoney's has a fantastic Christmas section. I think the tree looks even better with the Filipino parol next to it!

Click here to see more photos and videos from Thanksgiving and Xmas tree shopping that weekend.

Click here to see Jose's photos from the weekend. (Thanks, Jose!) There are probably overlaps in the photos between albums.