UNhappy Halloween.

Halloween stank because JB and Mia both were grouchy.

Here's a cute pic though of Tiff and Mia. At least someone was in a good mood.

(I don't know what's up with the underlining. Blogspot is going nuts.)

At first he was very happy with his costume. Everyone admires a frontiersman.
All smiles here with the little fairy princess.

When JB stepped out and had a look at the crowd trick or treating, he ran back into the house and ripped off his costume. I have NO idea what was going through his mind, but we did not trick or treat this year and I'm really too tired to figure it out. UN happy Halloween.

Give it up to God.

My thoughts and prayers are with my Palauan family. Familian Antonio, I'm thinking of you and praying for strength to get through this tough time. I love you!

"Mom" by JB

JB takes pictures too. Here's a night's photo session by the beginner photographer himself.

His "Photo Focus"? Mom, of course.

Please excuse my closed eyes. Happens almost everytime! Mia's cute though, huh?
Eeeeeh, adai. Na cuteness, si Mia. Yes, that is quite a belly. She eats what JB does not.
JB going for a "candid" shot. Eh... Mia's probaby asking for a snack.

Mom kicking it on the couch. He's going for dramatic here with the dark edges (his finger was over the flash!).

The Artiste himself in a self portrait. Oooh, look at that dimple. Just like his Mama.

Love you guys.

Soccer Saturday.

JB was playing for the World Cup today. I have never seen him so intense.

JB focuses while his teammates hee-hee-ha-ha.

Not letting any ball go to waste. He saved that one from going out of bounds, by the way. All out.
JB on a breakaway.

Sweet reward. Ice keke with friend Samuel and Sissy Grouchy Pants.

Life has given us lemons.

Atkins Kroll has rocked our world. John returned to an employer that no longer "needs" him. They gave away his position as dispatcher citing "operational hardship", which is something an employer can claim if an employee (specifically a National Guardsman) is gone for more than 90 days. To be nice, they offered him a position as a service advisor on the Toyota side, which is basically a position as a salesman. You make your paycheck on commission. #1: John is NOT a salesman. He is not comfortable with strangers! #2: because his pay depends on his ability to bola-bola strangers, we are at risk for not making a full paycheck <-- Not good when you need the full paycheck. The long and short, he challenged it with the Guard ESGR (Mike, Joe, George, and Anic should know what that is) to back him up and won at least his salary pay, BUT no other service advisor could ever know or else they'd feel VERY slighted since they are all busting their butts to make sales. A request from John (just in case since it is a very small world), speak nothing of this outside the family, k? You just never know. Yes, he still gets his original pay, but the environment could prove hostile if word gets out that John, if he was a lazybutt, could do absolutely nothing and still get paid at least what he needs. Not a good environment to work it, especially if most of your days is spent in it.

We (or mostly John since you all know I go where John goes) have come to the conclusion that Guam is not Team Camacho friendly any longer. We are looking at relocating closer to our loved ones in America as soon as we are financially capable. Most specifically close to Mom and Mike where Tiff is looking forward to attend University. What I am asking of you all is to give us the climate of your areas. Where can a family of 5 starting out rock bottom survive. We are hurt, we are worried, and we want to run to our loved ones (well, run to at least a good portion of our loved ones are). This is a plan in bloom. If you have any serious, thoughful questions, we probably don't have the answers right now, but one thing we do know is that we are looking at 6-12 months being in the States.

We are tired. TGIF, no? We will enjoy our weekend and formulate our plan as we come to terms with John's feelings towards his beloved island, and mine.

Love you guys.
Team Camacho

Bento Fun!

Out of necessity, a new hobby is born. I've been doing a lot of research on bento making-- yeah, not much of a life outside the home, but I'm ok with that.

Here's Tiff's bento o' the day. Leftover teriyaki chicken, onigiri sprinkled with fish flavored love, and healthy stuff because she needs it.

Mia's breakfast and snack bento.
Mia's lunch bento. She loves those turkey meatballs. She ate 7 of them yesterday afternoon after her nap. She still ate dinner too. I don't know where she puts it.

Love you!

Simple Pleasures.

I did not realize how easy these were to make! Here's my first batch. The brown things come in a can.

Tiff introduced Mia to Chocolate dipped cookies.
She just wanted to lick the spoon.

Not much going on. We had the Yona Fiesta this weekend so, of course, I made my annual large batch of spring rolls. Though of you, George! I've gotten the sauce down and this year I went all out and used shrimp. It really didn't take as much as I thought, so it wasn't a huge additional cost. It was actually only about $2.00 more. Sweet! Didn't get pictures because I was pretty grouchy after having Mia "help" me, which made making them twice as difficult as usual.

Love you guys.

What are YOU lookin' at?!

Who peed in their cornflakes?!

I caught them in a sweet, sibling moment and wanted to capture it. I said "say cheeeese" and this is what I got. Atan Baba to the 10th degree. Whoa, excuse me! Mia is in a "monkey see, monkey do" phase, hence the matching gameboy (JB's hand-me-down).

No Brown Bags Here!

Since all the vendors at the food court have jacked their 2 choice plates up to $6.00, I've decided to protest by making lunch for everyone, except JB. Can't beat 75 cent lunches and he thinks school lunch is like 5 star dining while my cooking makes him gag. Bringing lunch from home usually means boring sandwiches, but I'm changing that. Besides, I don't want anyone secretly tossing my homemade lunches and buying on the sly!

Even Mia gets a yummy lunch. Chicken and white bean chili over rice, swiss and smoked cheese, with diced pears and raisins for dessert. Just look at this cute lunch container!

Little containers with their own lids...
...and, viola! Nothing is spilling out of this puppy!

Mom's snacks are homemade gyoza (yeah, I made somemore! The family's gonna get sick of them, hehe), smokies, grapes, and some chocolate/coconut cookie.

Lunch was leftover chicken curry I made because I was thinking of Bala. Miss you!

Isn't this a cute, yet grown up looking bento box?

Tiff got her gyoza and fried rice that I made this morning so they're still pretty warm come her lunch time. I got pictures of Mia's and my lunch because I packed them last night. I'm still looking for a cute bento box for Tiff that won't spill in her bookbag. John gets to bring lunch too but he's on vacation AGAIN, so he can scrounge the fridge for his this week. We will be saving a minimum of $256 per month if I keep this up. I gotta keep that in mind when I don't feel like waking up early in the morning!

Birds of a Feather...

After a night of watching cartoons together, the little monsters fell asleep like this.

Sometimes they smile the same.
But mostly, they muyu the same.

Mia looks a lot like her brother and Daddy. She prefers to hang out with them more than she does her sister and me. She's been chilling out watching tv with them quite a bit these days. It's probably because the weather's been crappy, keeping us on lockdown. She's sick with a bad cold and fever. She stayed home with Daddy yesterday and today. Today we got a call from JB's school nurse telling us he was complaining of chest pains after which she found his heartbeat irregular. A trip to the doc for an exam and EKG found things to be "normal", but we have to keep an eye on him. He's "resting" at home, which means that John is probably going kaduku right now. I pray that it's nothing more than a large amount of intense gameboy playing. He got a new one and he's been playing it A LOT. I'm thinking maybe he's got chest muscle strain from the tension in his right arm pressing those little buttons. He went from no gameplaying to playing for hours (bad weather lately). I know that new activities can cause muscle pain to muscles that haven't been used much before. He only started complaining of pain again when he started playing his gameboy on our way home from the doc's clinic. I kept it here with me at the office so he can't play it, and John says he hasn't complained again since being home. So, maybe there's a connection. I think the irregular heartbeat was a reaction to the sharp pain he felt.

Anyway, love you all...


By the way: HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY, ANICIA! LOVE YOU!