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/

Dear Santa

J dictated his letter to Santa to me. He really wanted it to just say, "Dear Santa, I want a Power Ranger, from J" but I told him he had to say something nice first and also explain if he'd been good. So this was his second attempt:

Dear Santa,

Thank you, Santa, because you give things to little kids if they've been good boys. I was good because Mama didn't yell at me or scream at me. I ask when I can take my seatbelt off when I don't hear the engine. I don't say bad things about the dinner. I always ask politely for milk.

Please, I want a Power Ranger.

D has also been good. D would like a car.

I like you Santa. Please.

J

Christmakkah begins

We've been celebrating the first nights of Hanukkah. J is finally old enough to really participate; he loves to light the candles, eat suvganyot (sp?), and spin the dreidle. D is a bit bewildered but the one thing he is definite about is that a kippah is not going to stay on his head, thank you very much. Roni ordered the powdered sugar donuts, but did the fillings himself. I made latkes of ever improving quality, and the two of them were our dinner Friday night. We've since added vegetables so we won't die by the end of the eight days.

Sunday we drove to a tree farm to get our Christmas tree, our first time cutting our own since I was a kid and we cut a couple of spindly trees on our property and put them together to form one decently bushy tree. It was kind of fun wandering about looking for the perfect tree - it had to be round, not too tall, not too wide, very straight, and not be one of the expensive types (I'm tree cheap). We found a perfect grand fir, compared it to all the others, declared it the winner, and then realized that we'd left the camera in the car. Then discovered the batteries were dead. Then discovered after charging the batteries that the camera was dead. So, no pictures of Roni cutting down the tree, but he did a masterful job while the rest of us sipped hot chocolate and gave advice.

Then home, via Costco for a new camera, where we put the kids down for a nap. Roni headed out to the pump house where he tried to change the filter but instead broke off the filter and the pipe it was attached to. Oops. So, no water for us for the next 24 hours.

When the kids got up, we had a great time getting the lights and ornaments sorted out and everyone put some on. J's favorite is his Snow White apple from last year during his crazy-for-Disney phase. D really likes the glass panda since he sleeps with his panda bear every nap and night.

So, an expensive day, what with electronics and plumbers, but in the end a lovely one.

Such . . . creative . . . children

A long while ago, Roni's mom gave the kids fingerpaints, which I promptly put up in a very high cupboard. Today we finally remembered them and got them out for the kids, who had a blast.

Unfortunately, the blue turned out NOT to be washable. Oops. Yesterday was my friend Paige's annual cookie party, which is always chaos and great fun. The children created these, complete with the ever traditional Christmas dinosaur and foot. They also are very stuck together in places, creating permanent cookie towers. But I can personally attest to the fact that they are very tasty!
(Not sure why the picture keeps turning itself sideways.)