Happy Birthday To My Best Friend ... My Love...E

Happy Happy Birthday My Love! Here's to hoping you have a great day and that its not that bad turning 33. Love you so much! I have a simple dinner planned for us tonight with the happy b day hullabaloo with the littles and a special treat from me. Looking forward to seeing you tonight. xoxo moi!


thx 4 the cupcake

Just A Thought

Yesterday E received a letter from one of his old students who arrived at the boot camp with in the last few weeks. He enlisted after graduation and is becoming a Marine.The day before he left he called E to tell ask for our address. He did not have a lot of people to write too while he was gone and he wanted to write to him. When the letter arrived i thought it was awesome that a student of his would want to keep in contact with a teacher after graduation. It particularly warmed my hear to know that although new to instructing students (with in the last two years .. auto body tech at a local ROP program) E has made such an impression on his kids. When the letter arrived he was out on a fishing trip with another old student and his family. In fact his phone is always blowing up with a student calling asking for advise on this or that or an invitation to a fishing adventure or car show or just to hang out. I think its awesome. i think he does a good job. And I just wanted to say I am very proud of him and all that he does at work and at home.

Happy Sunday Morning!

Spilled cherrios, happy faces and a mocha latte . There's nothing like Sunday breakfast at mimi's. Affordable and yummy eats and they give thief luttles a small bowl of cherrios with fruit and a bib to start an enjoyable dining experience . Lots to do today. Shopping at target and jcp and keeping the littles occupied.

If an adventure opos up I will be sure to blog it.











-- Post From My fabulous









CV fab mama/curlie girlie gone mobile!

Happy Mothers Day Love the Littles

A snap of the very cute cards that E helped the littles make for me for mothers day. SO sweet!

Date Night : Eddie Papa's

E was headed out of town last week for a competition with his students. He would be gone for 4 days so we turned Wednesday into date night. We had a few errands to run before he left town. After much debate as to where to eat( the never ending battle we have when we dine out) I decided on Eddie Papa's in Pleasanton. What a delight. We will be going back soon. I really loved the saucy-ness of this place. Drinks are served out of jam jars and at the end of your meal you get a little bowl of cotton candy. Very creative, looking forward to our next visit.

We ended the night at Walmart, to pick up some travel essentials for E.

Preschool Enrollment

We have have officially enrolled LMG in to preschool. He will start in September. We choose one of the co-ops in CV. Here is a snap of E sitting in a chair at the preschool. Kinda funny so I wanted to share.

Day Before Easter Fun

A few snaps of the fun we had the Saturday before Easter. We headed to an egg hunt, hung out with the Easter Bunny for a little bit.

Made a little mess while coloring Easter eggs



After the littles went to sleep baskets were put together

Happy Easter!

9 Years & Counting

E and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary together on Friday. No, it was not 9 years of wedded bliss but 9 years together in this day and age is something to talk about , in my opinion. My sister came to care for the littles while E and I drive out to the city for some alone time. We made a day of it. We had lunch at Cha Cha Cha's on Haight. The food was outstanding, totally our type of down home ( well for us anyways ) cuisine. The mood was busy, the salsa music was pumpin' and the sangria was flowin. I really like this place and want to go back soon. Read my Yelp review of it here

After Cha Cha Cha's we did a kinda touristy thing and drove to fishermans wharf. not to check out the street vendors but to pick up a cupcake. Kara's Cupcakes it is both a sad but good thing you do not live near me!







The day ended up with us back in the East Bay to watch a total man movie, "The Fast and The Furious" but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Happy Anniversary E. I love you!

Faz & Bittersweet

Chocolate, pecan macroon from Bittersweet



Wine Flights @Faz


Yummy


I have been ruined for any other hot chocolate ...ever


So Cute and Yummy!

Date Night.. my turn to pick! I have been stalking this place on Yelp, Bitersweet Cafe and thats where our night ended but first we went to Faz in Pleasanton. I have never been to this place but wish I had know about it before. We were seated right away despite my attempt to use my open table app for my iphone( it worked but when we got there, we were seated right away!) The food was delish, we had fantastic wine flights, the presentation was tre chic and of course the vino was supremo.I had the pomegranate chicken, e had the swordfish.

After dinner we dashed over to Danville to check out Bittersweet, a chocolate cafe. Oh my G I felt like I died and went to chocolate heaven. I had a classic hot chocolate and a chocolate pecan macroon. There are so many different types of chocolate at Bittersweet, and yummy baked treats, and cafe drinks and did I mention I LOVE IT. It was a sweet way to end the night, but believe I will be back there to visit again.

A New Favorite Pic

This was a snap of E and G last Saturday. E was napping on the couch when LMG crawled on top and snuggled down with his daddy. I thought this was a cute picture and I wanted to share.

Thursday Dinner

Fantastic night for sandwich. On the menu, left over pork roast sandwich, served on sourdough bread, with mango ginger chutney, and sprouts. On the side a spring greens salad. This dinner created quite the controversy in my house. Thursday is usually every man for himself night. This means left overs, a sandwich whatever. Elvin had a deli sliced sandwich of Italian turkey with chips while I enjoyed this fantastic meal. Here is the facebook convo that ensued after he spotted my plate.


Elvin Alvino Jr is looking at the great meal michelle made for herself wondering where mine is

Raul Victor Smith at 5:00pm March 26
Go outside and it's in a bowl that has the name FIDO on it. LOL!

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:05pm March 26
Lol we are outside.... And now i cant stop her from laughing.

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:11pm March 26
I love that grown men can talk smack about their wives with buddies and wives on facebook but can't slap a meal together. Thats what you get Elvin for the quick fix meal baby cakes. Patience Grass Hopper... at the end you have a dish like mine... and it was GOOOD!

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:20pm March 26
I love that the same women who make these wonderful meals and have such wit about them cant use a hammer and nail to hang a picture frame to a wall

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:27pm March 26
wow Elvin you put me on blast on facebook. I hope you are ready for a long lonely night with palm -ela

Elvin Alvino Jr at 5:29pm March 26
Lol....patience Grasshopper she will knock on your door soon as well.

Michelle Castro-Alvino at 5:38pm March 26
why did i even get you on facebook. leave me alone brat

Michael Jason Williams at 7:01pm March 26
Yo Elvin..this is funny..:>)
Elvin Alvino Jr at 7:03pm March 26

Just me and the wife busting chops... LoL

Raul Victor Smith at 7:05pm March 26
Holy crap! I can just visualize the remote control flying across the room. Followed by a "Oh no you di int!"

Michael Jason Williams at 7:07pm March 26
yes i di id..:>)


WHATEVER. The Sandwich was yummy, I loved it and look forward to making that roast again so I can do a sandwich redo. After all of that I am not sure why I urged E to get on facebook.

Opps

So funny, the night before I asked E before I went to bed
"do you know where the shoes are in the morning?"

E replied..."yep, I'm on it"

Not so much

Eye Of The Tiger

We recently picked up a Wii. This was my idea I thought it would be fun if we had a game system that we could all use ...instead of just E shooting military men, chasing cars and beating up weirdos on the PS3. LMG, loved the Wii sports boxing. We are honig his skills as a prize fighter. it's never too early to start the training. He knocked out the Wii opponent twice yesterday. This kid has virtual heart and a chin.

Date Night Adventures...Weekend Outings

So I am taking a moment to catch up on weekend adventures.We secured our favorite sitter Amanda to come over and chill out with the littles while E and I took some time out for ourselves and had a date night. We headed over to
Sushi Boat in Union City for a quick bite of sushi. We have frequented this place in the past but and enjoyed it, however I think the quality of service has gone a little down hill, in fact its almost low-rent... They really had a way of speeding up your meal to get you in and out. I know Friday night is a busy night but I hate to be rushed at a meal and especially on date night. They have also changed their menu since we had visited last and the jury is still out with us and the changes.

After dinner we headed over to Best Buy to kill sometime and do some research on items we are thinking about getting.. we actually picked up a Wii something I have been wanting for awhile. After Wii shopping we headed over to our new favorite spot Zuckersuss in Hayward. I have Yelped this place recently and need to write them another fabulous review because they and their yogurt rocks!


After the yogurt E and I headed home and played with the Wii until midnight or so was so much fun!

Saturday, the littles and I headed over to Emeryville for a Red Egg and Ginger party for baby BW. We had a fantastic time. I was hoping to stay longer but when flying solo with littles its better to head out when your ahead of the game before the inevitable meltdown. Saturday night we chilled at home and I prepared for my morning of massage sessions on Sunday.


Sunday, was out the door and at the massage studio by 7:30 am . I had 3 clients all moms from the CVMC. 1 hot rock session , 2 swedish sessions. It was quick and painless had a little gab session and was home in 3 hours.

Favorite Indian in Hayward deliver. WE LOOOVE Favorite Indian and recommend it to everyone we know that likes Indian food.


on the dinner menu... tandoori chicken, garlic naan, lamb vindaloo and samosas with rice... YUMMY

Sunday Adventures

A rainy weekend came to a close. We were stranded in the house most of the weekend. On Sunday we braved the rain for a short blast of activity. First up Breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Mimi's is one of my favorite chain restaurants to eat at. The food is always delish and down home and very reasonably priced. I had the crab and avocado omelet. The littles had scrambled eggs and toast and E had French toast he ended up sharing with the littles. Littles heart french toast... in fact littles heart anything covered in syrup.

After our Mimi's Cafe fuel stop we ran over to the CVMC winter party at the San Lorenzo community center. The kids had some fun, chasing balloons and running around the space. There were a lot of different activities that the littles could have participated in but neither one was in the mood to craft. lmG was busy chasing ballons and popping them while bbD was occupied following his brother around and when he tired of that trying to make a break for it out to the duck pond. We stood for awhile and then headed home for the littles to take their daily nap.





The cold wet day turned to night and soon it was time to put the kids to sleep for reals. The littles had a black bean and cheese "cigar" ... ( rolled up quesadilla) for dinner while I whip ed up veggie chicken wraps and soup for E and I. It was of course delicious. very filling and satisfying. A perfect snuggle under the blankets meal to end Valentines day weekend.

To Co-Op or Not To Co-Op

That has become the major question in my brain. LMG (Gabriel) is coming up on preschool people. A happy yet,challenging decision needs to be made soon. In a community like CV there are many preschool options. Last night E and I attended the CVMC Preschool Fair to try and narrow down our search.

There were traditional schools, there were co-op school but I did not notice any Montessori schools in attendance. E and I like the idea of a Co-Op. My sister has volunteered her time to work our in class days for us and of course we will be attending the parenting classes in the evening. There are two major Co-Ops that are in my sites . HPNS amd the CVPNS. I have finished all of my required work for HPNS and I think we are on a waiting list... still waiting to hear back from them.

I am hoping E and I are up for the challenge and dedication a Co-Op will take. Sometimes at the end of the day we find ourselves exhausted and to add one more major thing on to the ever growing to do list seems a bit daunting. Keep posted for the final Preschool decision.

Yelp Elite Event

I recently made Elite status on Yelp. I was quite pleased that my reviews were taken into account and I was granted this almighty badge of honor. If you Yelp , then you know what I am talking about. One of the great benefits of being Elite are the Elite Events. Last night we attended my very first Elite event at Easy925 in Danville. It was an 80's themed party. We did not come in dress up but still had an awesome time. Yelp and Easy925, along with SKYY provided us with drinks. You basically got to sample the drinks and you would vote for your favorite. The winner(drink) with the most votes got a permanent place on the menu as the Yelp approved drink. I likes the Cruel Summer, E liked the Purple Rain. Before we left I got a cute Elite hoodie that I am looking ofrward to rocking about town sometime soon. E let me know that I am kinda of a nerd with my Yelp obsession and my blog on the way home but it's ok... I may have become a bit of a geek but I am still chic ;)

I will admit all the drinks last night were smidge much for me I had a little trouble getting out of bed and for a moment felt a little woozy. I can not party like I use to. Boo hoo. Oh well, maybe more Yelp Elite events will keep me in a more regular go out mode.