A boy and his bike

While I've been puttering about at home, setting the roomba free to roam, blogging, and loving the sound of silence, thinking all the while that the guys were off at a thrift store to get rid of a little bit of our garage clutter, this is what they actually went out to get:


Pretty tough bike for a boy in a bunny coat.

Busy boys

The boys were very busy today, all three of them. After the morning cartoons and cornflakes, they started their energetic day by helping Papa remove the rest of the railings from the deck. So nice to have the unobstructed view of the creek and yard back! (We had to put up the railings some years ago when we started the adoption process - our former China agency mandated it as a requirement for our homestudy completion. Even our insurance company didn't think we needed rails on such a low deck, but we couldn't argue at the time.)

Then, J and Roni did a little painting in his bathroom to get it - finally - all one color again after having the doorway closed off a long while ago. A little spiffing up soon to be joined by new flooring. D slept through this part, but when he got up to inspect it, he declared it, "Stinky!" One of his favorite insults.


Next there was some ferocious trike racing and a failed attempt at a two wheeled ride, and then they burnt some of the rails and toasted some marshmallows to end the day. J loves marshmallows, but D mostly dropped and walked on his. Not a sugar boy. He's more of a cracker king.


And what was I doing during all of this? Watching old movies from Netflix and doing a bit of this
:

and testing out my newest fiber craft, needle punching. A big of a lumpy sheep but it is a first attempt. Fun, though, and it will be a great way to use up all the yarn I keep producing.

J Day!

February 20 is the anniversary of J joining our family, forever know to us as "J Day." We celebrated a day late this year due to other things going on (and the fact that we can't keep track of the day of the week, much less the day of the month).

The tradition has become to do something fun first, so we went to the park with the trikes and the kids rode like a speed demon (J) or a tipsy not-so-speedy demon (D) and used every piece of playground equipment at least twice. Then a little soccer ball kicking, some geese feeding, and on to part two, which is lunch at a chinese restaurant. After all that energy building, they inhaled their egg flower soup, fried rice, and broccoli beef.

Sadly, I forgot to bring a camera for any of this!

J's favorite part is the third part, where he gets to pick out a toy to buy. This was a very time consuming process in the aisles of Target as every toy had to be looked at and analyzed for its potential fun. Until he saw a monster truck and then the decision was easy, as monster trucks rule J's world. Although he's still rather regreting losing out on the opportunity for blendy pens and has started a campaign to get us to go back for them.

Two years! It doesn't seem possible. He's changed so much, grow so tall and is a little boy now instead of a toddler. He talks a mile a minute and runs even faster. He loves to have us "check how big my muscles are!" though he still seems to think those muscles are located in his elbows. His favorite things to do are to jump off of anything, dig for pirate treasure in the back yard, and ride very fast on his trike. He stalks sugar and thinks that it is necessary an hourly basis if he is to survive. He cries very quickly and easily but has forgotten his upset a moment later. If he is very, very angry with us he calls us "goo-goo heads," the ultimate insult at preschool apparently. We are frequently exasperated, often stunned, and we love him to bits.

A spot in the sun

It has become an almost-annual tradition for my sister and I to head to Arizona over the President's Day long weekend to visit our mom in her snowbird winter home. This time the trip coincided with the Vancouver Olympics, so we skipped some of the outings to watch the DVR'd opening ceremonies and some of our favorite sports (snowboarding and moguls at the top of that list - as much as "favorite" can be a sport related word for me when I never watch any non-Olympic sporting events).

But there was still plenty of time to watch the almost scary number of birds wrestling at Mom's backyard feeder and dipping into her fountain, and the bunnies racing around in the front road. We tore ourselves away from the televised snow to dunk Mom in the complex's outdoor pool and lounge in the hot tub. Aunt Virginia lured us to her new condo with offers of homemade bon-bons and the promise that the Olympic figure skating would be on her screen as well.

And of course, my Knitting Olympics sweater which I started Saturday morning. And some spinning with my new spindle.

We also remodeled a flight jumpsuit into an off the shoulder dress with a potentially plunging neckline and a feathery ruffled red skirt that my sister swears she will be wearing to a dance. The military has mysterious ways.

We even moved far enough away from the TV to visit the Botanical Gardens where every cactus had a sunlit halo and came in weird and wonderful shapes. Even a few glass ones scattered in with the others.

It was a great trip and wonderful to spend so much time quietly with my mom and sister.

Meanwhile, the menfolk had fun at home celebrating the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year by going to see the dragon and lion dancers in the International District. J called to tell me that he was "very brave, Mama, I didn't even cover my ears for the firecrackers!" They ate beef noodle soup and endured the rain and had all sorts of adventures.

The weekend had a lot of holidays - Mid-Winter Break, Roni & I's seventh anniversary, CNY, Valentine's Day and President's Day. (Small aside - I was particularly impressed that there is such a thing as a red box of chocolates decorated with a monster truck, which is J's favorite wheeled vehicle.) We didn't celebrate any of them as an entire family, but they were still all a success.

We're still here

I'm falling behind on my duties to the grandmas by not putting up new blog entries. Except, the grandmas have both been with us off and on for the holidays and since, so they've been in many the pictures and are not feeling as urgent about pictures as they might otherwise.

And then there is the great disappearing picture mystery - somehow the folder with all the Chrismukkah pictures has disappeared in the transfer to the new CPU. I think my mom has copies, but somehow a blog of child adventures just isn't the same without pics!

But we're all still here, and still happy, and still sleep deprived, which is a whole 'nother posting.

In the meantime, for more entertaining reading (warning: inappropriate language and snakes) my sister is doing a better job of blogging.

http://www.kcharrold.blogspot.com/