amazing....

I don't often mix business with family, but I wanted to give information out to people about a great group I am involved with about race and conversations. Check out Anti-Racist Parent at www.antiracistparent.com which is a fabulous blog with a number of great contributors (myself included!). The most recent one by Paula is just absolutely on the money.

Also, Joli taught a class at the college I work at the other day. she was a big hit! Together, we did a presentation on Rb, and the college kids asked her great questions. She was a bit shy but they loved her just the same and were really supportive. I then was asked to teach another class on it for a different section. Hurray for raising Rb awareness!!

Happy Easter!

Oodles and oodles of kid cuteness here, people! We had a great Easter weekend in NY with Grammy, Pops and Uncle Pedro. The girls wore matching (of course, c'mon) Easter dresses, had their hair done by Grammy, and got the rare chance to go up to the alter with Pops.

Rare Family Photo: Easter 2008

Jada gettin' her hair done by Grammy
Chillin' with the favorite Uncle living in New York

Hee hee.... Jada scared at a point in the movie. Too precious!

GUNPLAY PREMIERE IN LA!



Okay, this was super amazing. Jorge's book "Gunplay" launched in Los Angeles today and it was such an incredible event! The pictures pretty much sum it up, but the highlights include:

• Jorge being mistaken by an Australian guy who said, "I came all the way from Australia and may never get the chance to meet you again.... I love your show." (Jorge getting mistaken for Donald Faison... poor dude).

• A woman coming up to Donald Faison and saying, "No offense, but I really only want Jorge to sign my book."

• Getting to be an a press room (of only about a dozen people) with Alyssa Milano, Milo Ventigmelia, Donald Faison.. and of course, Jorge and the crew

• Seeing a line for Jorge's booth snake nearly 1/2 way down the convention room floor (and having someone say, "Daaaammm, this line is longer than The HULK's LINE!")

• Hearing a 20-something year old guy walk away from the Gunplay table and say to his friend, "This is the BEST day of my life!"

• Walking around the Con and seeing total strangers wearing Buffalo Soldier shirts

• Walking into the Con and having someone at the door hand me a "Gunplay" postcard and say, "Jorge Vega will be signing autographs later if you want to meet him!" (hee hee hee!)

• Hearing Donald Faison get interviewed and saying to the reporter, "Nah, man, the REAL news isn't me... it's this guy, Jorge Vega -- go interview HIM!"

CONGRATULATIONS JORGE!! WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

Jorge getting interviewed

Group shot in the press room just before the CBC Ceremony
Jorge and Donald signing books. Here's how cool Jorge (and the rest) is: "Gunplay" normally sells for $1. But, to get a copy signed by Donald, Jorge, Nei and Dominic, they cost $5 and the $4 would benefit Camp Sunshine. How cool are they?

Liza and Jorge in the press room for Wizard's World.

Signing autographs ... the line for these guys snaked 1/2 way across the convention room floor! It was huge! And, I hear someone say, "WOW! This line is longer than the one for The Hulk (Lou Ferrigno!)"
Next stop: NY Comic Con!

Geesh.. it's been a busy week!

Lots of things going on this week. Jorge is getting ready for his big debut this weekend, I've been at a conference all week, and the girls have been extra busy .. well, being girls!

This is Mary - working on the midterm that she should have written weeks ago...

Jada and Lolo -- some moments she loves him, some moments she's screaming at him. This picture looks like she's not sure...!

This is a result of Mary having done so much extensive research on the Muslim communities in the Philippines and making us watch hours and hours of video footage of her research. I guess the kids learned more than we thought...!

Jada refused to remove her scarf and insisted it be wrapped this way.


We brought the kids to Filipino school where Mary was teaching kulingtan.

Princess High Maintenance

Try as I might to raise my girls to be anti-pink, anti-gender-clothing, Jada just seems to stick it to me at every turn....

No, this is not a staged photo that we got her dressed up for -- this is an average day in the life of Jada.

We've been so busy!

Whew! March has certainly come in like a lion for us! Jorge has been gearing up for the comic convention circuit which truly goes into full force! Feel free to purchase a Buffalo Soldier shirt -- they are now on sale!!

Jada and Joli went to the movies today with their friend Melina! It was so great! This was Jada's first movie theater event, and she completely enjoyed her own popcorn and drink at the theater!

Getting ready for the movie... Jada refused to remove her sunglasses - like a true rock star!

My first theater movie!
Oh, yeah. I'm going to the movies!!

Our buddy Melina!

Videos from yesterday!

Happy Valentines Day!

Jada enjoying some Dim Sum!

Valentines Day is also Tita Elma's birthday!! Happy Birthday Tita Elma!!
Jorge surprised us gals with balloons and chocolates in the car!
Jada enjoying some Valentine's Day cupcakes!


The super cute Valentines Day outfits!

Joli is allergic to can fruit/fruit cups

We just sent an email out to family, but we're also posting on the blog for family/friends who check this. We think Joli is allergic to fruit cups - you know, the Dole kinds in the plastic little tubs? In December she had some and broke out in hives. It wasn't bad at all, but we took her to the doctor (who also said it wasn't too bad). She had some Benedryl and it was fine.

Well, 2 months later, we decide to try the fruit cup theory again. Joli had one of those little cups and this time, she spent the entire night (and half of today) throwing up. She didn't break out in hives, no fever, etc. But, she did spend most of the evening hovering over the toilet. There was nothing else new that she ate, so we are assuming that it's the fruit cups.

So, while her school certainly hasn't given her any for the past 2 months (they have a huge sign on their refrigerator not to give her any), please do not allow Joli to have any. We've been teaching her to say, "I do not want that fruit cup, thank you. It will make me sick." But, in case she didn't, please know not to give her any.

Thanks!

We love having our family around us again!

The girls with their favorite Teetah!
Jada and Ninang Mari have a special relationship.... basically, Jada freaks her out and Mari likes to make fun of her... oh great.
Okay, I've been horrible about the whole "taking the 1x a month picture" with Tigger and Grover. Technically, Jada is 21 months old.

Joli is 45 months old!

Joli's Week

This past week was pretty crazy! On Monday, Joli went to the ocularist to have her yearly prosthesis fitting. When she went, he noticed a "bump" on the tissue. So, I said, "Is that something to worry about?" and he replied, "Well... no... sometimes it's normal.....". That wasn't a confident enough answer for me, so I booked an appointment to see Dr. Mukai. The ocularist thought it might just be the back of her prosthesis rubbing up against her tissue. So, he shaved some of the back off the prosthesis.

When Dr. Mukai examined her (5 days later) he said the bump wasn't there anymore - which leads us to believe it was, in fact, just friction from her prosthesis. Emotional week, of course...

Joli did AWESOME at Dr. Mukai's. The visits are getting easier and easier, and they were very impressed by how quickly Joli got her eye in and out. She's officially 46 pounds and 48 inches tall. Dr. Mukai cleared her for another year!

Now, Jada's appointment next month!

* This is from Joli, March 2007 -- last year was her first exam without anesthesia!
LOOK HOW MUCH SHE'S GROWN!
My beeeaaauuutifulll Joli!!

Just having some cousin fun!

These girls are best friends! We even found out today that they like to compare underwear types - as in "Mia! I love the picture on your underwear today! It's so pretty!"


Jada is oddly obsessed with being a princess. She LOVES dressing up and wearing princess clothing- especially ones that are way too big for her! Every morning, even if she's already dressed in a shirt and pants, she says, "Mommy, I want a princess.. I want to be Princess Mia" (because Mia is notoriously known for dressing like a princess, too!)

Jada is definitely a talker! For a while there, (around when she turned 1) she wasn't speaking much at all. Then, out of nowhere, she could form sentences and identify numbers and letters. She can sing the whole ABC and count to 20 (skipping 15-19)! Woah... all this at 20 months.

Joli, on the other hand, will ONLY wear "soft pants" (aka sweat pants). And, she is completely in love with High School Musical. She can sing almost all the words - and by default, so can Jada! Jada can also sing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and yes, she forces us to listen to it in the car about a dozen times a day!
We're so glad that Gavie has joined the Cousin Brigade! I think he's adjusting to not only being surrounded by kids but also being surrounded by girls! Tita Grace takes Gavie and Jada to music class on Wednesdays, and they are loving it! Hopefully we can get some pictures of that soon!

Let's see.... it's been a while since I really wrote down the girl-happenings!

Joli: goes to school 2x a week and she'll start 3x a week soon. She LOVES her pre-school (and so do we!). I can't believe how tall she is and how much of a little person she is! We went to the ocularist recently and all seems well - except he said that her eye socket looks like it's getting "sunken". This is pretty normal because there is no real pressure forcing the bones to grow. I have to admit I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have, but all I remember hearing were the words "little plastic surgery."

Jada: Oh, Jada. She is convinced her name is "Jada Louie". She is completely attached to me (Mama). She's FINALLY weaned (yes, much info there) completely, though. Jada works really well with Jorge - she does anything he tells her to do. Every morning, Jada says, "Mama, I want Lily." Those two are peas-in-a-pod! They love each other completely and get along so well!

Hopefully pictures from Music class soon!

We've been busy!

It's been a really busy few weeks (hence the lack of posting!). Work has picked up at a fast pace for me and Jorge has been busy with Gunplay related work!

Mari, JP and Gavie have finally joined us on the East Coast, and now all the cousins are here!

Now that all the siblings are around, it's always party time!

Jorge cracks me up...

Here's what he posted on his own website in response to our favorite, Obama, winning Iowa...

Happy New Year!

I love this picture of Jada... she always chooses the darker skinned babies whenever we play.

Joli and Mia were, by far, the most dressed up people on New Years Day.... fancy black dresses along with lots and lots and lots of lipstick!!

Each year, the Pediatric Hemotology-Oncology clinic that Joli goes to hosts a Winter Party. We love going! It's always nice to see people we haven't seen since the hospital days. For the staff, Joli looks entirely different! She left the hospital in '06 with her hair barely coming in. Last year, they saw Jada as a little baby. So, many of them commented on how much both of them have grown! It's also so nice to see some of our former roommates (you may have read about them if you've been following the blog for a few years now). Unfortunately (or fortunately?), some of them are still in treatment. Also, today, we saw a new person - someone my sister went to high school with.

By far, the favorite part of the party is the room where the girls can get manicures! This year, we brought along Mia and Aunt Jenny for some fun!

Here's Jada after her manicure. The woman said, "I think she may be too young for it." And we said, "uh, yeah, she's been getting manicures since she was 1 year old....." Jada was very still, and even at one point, she began to take her shoes off for the woman to do her pedicure! Ha ha ha!
Joli and Mia enjoying their manicures. The real treat was the woman who was doing Joli's -- she is the child life specialist from the hospital, and she hadn't seen Joli in a REALLY long time! Ashley was so incredibly helpful and kind to us when we were in the hospital! Joli really loved seeing her again!
Aunt Jenny ... the nutritionist .... scarfing down a sugar cookie with green frosting, M&Ms, gummy bears, and sprinkles that Mia made. Oh, what we do for our kids!
Okay, if this doesn't make you smile... I don't know what does......





ps.. Congrats to Baby Bennett Menghi! Welcome to the world, New Years baby!

English professor retells story of niece, wins $500 - News

English professor retells story of niece, wins $500 - News

Just like Grace not to mention yet another great article about her! Go, Grace!

Happy New Year!

Last few days of 2007
We've had a fun filled past few days here as we count down 2007.
Joli, Mia, and Mia H. all went to see Nemo on Ice. We had great seats (thanks Lola!), bags of cotton candy, and fun with our Nemo hats.

On Dec 31st, I took Jada and Joli to Chuck E Cheese so that Jorge can get some work done. We had a crazy fun time!! Jada rode this carousel about a dozen times and refused to get off.
Joli and Jada loved the slides in the small kids area. Joli was super about helping Jada up and down the slide.
Joli was big rollin' in this hydraulics truck. She loved it!

Brief summary of 2007 in our family
January: Joli went with her cousins to the annual Pedi Oncology party and Jada got her first portrait done to be put up on Lolo's wall.
February: We said goodbye to Mari and Gavie as they returned back to California.
March: Joli hung out with Grammy, Ped and Pops in NYC during Spring Break.
April: Jada turned 1 year old! Joli had her in-office exam and was cleared for 1 year.
May: Jorge entered the Platinum Studios contest.
June: Liza presented at regional conference for an innovative program she initiated at work.
July: We are in Oregon for Jon and Jenny's wedding! Joli turned 4 years old!
August: Joli was a special guest at Sesame Place, and Jorge won Platinum Studio's challenge!
September: Liza was promoted to a new position. Jorge begins to be a featured guest at comic conventions. Joli started pre-school!
October: Jada begins singing clearly! We visit old friends in New York. Liza finds out she is BRCA1+ and begins lots of screening. We find out there will be another Vega (Andy and Marie) cousin!
November: Thanksgiving and the Vega family visits us!
December: Jada's EUA's have been pushed to 4 months! We're eagerly awaiting 2008 for even more great life events!