Took My Kids to See Santa

Today was kind of busy, kinda fun, kinda blah, kinda...I dunno.

I decided to take my kids to see Santa Claus. I took them to the Huntington Center, thinking the place MIGHT be open. Nope. Instead a bunch of military men were playing catch in the mall, and there was an open door for Toys For Tots. Two Latino military men, l, dressed in cammies opened the door for me and said, "Do you need help?" I said, "I'm just wondering if the place was open?" One of the guys said, "No, just Mervyn's. The whole place is closed, except for Mervyns." I was like, "Okay, thanks." I turned away.

Then this brother comes out of a side door, and he goes, "They scare you off?" I said, "No. I hadn't realized the mall was closed." He was looking at my kids and smiling, looking me up and down and smiling, looking at my kids and smiling, and I say, "I need to get going now." Then says to me, "Have a nice day, ma'am." Ma'am! God, that is such a grandma word. I said, "You, too." I head out.

We go to Westminster Mall and it's crowded as hell. I didn't want to drive up and down the parkinglot looking for a spot up close, because that would take longer than if I parked out far away and walked. So, I parked far and walked. My kids were excited. We were going to see Santa. We stood in line for a long time and Santa was wearing his regular gear, this year. His house clothes and house shoes. It was different, but it was cute. I liked it.

After the picture taking, I took my kids with me upstairs, and I bought some pants and a shirt. Man, I never have taken my son with me to the mall before, without his father, and without a stroller. He's at the age where I don't really need a stroller. He's just like me when I was little, he hides in clothes and gives his mommy a near heart attack. I kept turning around to look for him and would get scared. If he found a rack of clothing, he had to go inside the clothes and hide. I bought a pair of pink drawstring pants, a pink shirt and some pink thongs to match.

We went to Mickey D's and I got us all Happy Meals. My daughter says, "Mommy, you are too old to eat Happy Meals and play with toys." Another OLD comment.

After all this, I had to go to work. I stayed with my kids and then my mom watched them, till their dad came home.

Family Portrait 1998

I had it planned out.  We would dress our baby up in red and go take a quick family picture at Huntington Center.  I am almost 3 months pregnant with my first born son, Kalib.  I have very bad morning sickness and really want to go home after this.  My mom and aunt Minja came with us.  So, this has been a treat.  

My aunt just moved in.  Random, out of the blue, popped up at the house with her luggage.  I didn't even realize she knew where we lived.  But, she's been at our place for about 2 months.

It is my 21st birthday and I decided I want to take a family picture to pass out in my Christmas cards.  It's just the three of us this year, but next Christmas will be the 4 of us.  

A Baby is Born

On December 23rd, 1996, my water broke at approximately 3am, and immediately after, I was in full-on labor. My daughter Sienna couldn't wait to be born, because I had her at 5:50am. This was her first picture. The hospital put a little Christmas beanie on her head. What a great Christmas present to both her dad and I. She was the tie that binds.  We took her home on Christmas Eve and then to 2 Christmas celebrations, one at my sister Jeri's and then the next stop was my Aunt Jacki's.

Her name:

• Sienna - raw Sienna is a yellowish-brown clay, kinda like the yellow of her mommy and the brown of her daddy. I'm real witty. LOL
• Cecilija - the Russian spelling of Cecilia, the female version of Cecil, named for her paternal great-grandfather Cecil Harris who passed away earlier the same year.
• Arcala - to honor my side of the family
• Anderson - to honor her dad's side of the family

Christmas 1994

 My father, Thomas Arcala and his wife Penny took my sister Jeri and I to San Diego to visit my sister April Davis.  While taking photography classes and practicing using a camera, I shot this photo of April and her son David and this photo of my father Thomas Arcala playing with April's daughter Anna.

It didn't come out great because my shutterspeed was not set correctly, but this is a photo to be cherished.

Teen Drama Queen Christmas

This was a bad Christmas.  I was 16 years old.  My mom didn't remember the holidays, therefore there was no tree and no gifts at home.  My sister Jeri was now married and didn't invite me over like she usually did, and my aunt Jacki didn't invite me either.  It wasn't like I had any way to get over to either of their homes if I just wanted to stop by. 

I was at home crying.  My boyfriend Michael's mom came to pick him up from Anaheim, CA where he lived and he asked if she could stop by my place and pick me up.  We had a two hour drive to Oxnard, CA where we celebrated Christmas at his grandparents' home. 

Here I was, sitting on the guest bed in his Grandmother's home.  I did get a Christmas gift from his mom, two tickets to the movie theater for me and her son.