Saturday, February 26, 2011
Fifteen
Zane is fifteen years old.
His birthday was Thursday but the celebrating was postponed until this weekend.
The cake comes tomorrow after Sunday lunch.
Today, gran’mommy was gracious enough to watch the girls while Carmi and I spent some (very rare) alone time with our young man.
We took him to lunch at the restaurant of his choice. Not surprisingly, he selected a certain Chinese buffet in town that we frequent rather regularly. He usually eats so much there, it’s amazing he’s still as thin as he is.
Unlike the girls, he was always at a loss for words when asked what he would like for his birthday. Finally on Thursday, he answered, “Can I just go to a store and look?”
Sure thing.
After lunch, I took him into a video game store while Carmi took the “crafty” route and went to Michaels.
Zane carefully pored over every selection and picked a brand new Pokemon game for the Nintendo DS.
I think we’ll give him one more surprise for his birthday.
A haircut.
Oh… and there’s another celebration going on today.
It was two years ago today that we left for China to bring Zane home for good.
Happy (belated) Birthday, pal. Mom and dad are so proud of you.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Confirmed Bookworm
Carmi loves to read.
Carmi wanted to blog about reading.
Doug created a blog for Carmi.
It’s called The Confirmed Bookworm.
{extended}No more yowling
Poor Sagwa went under the knife today.
She’s feeling a little loopy right now.
But thank goodness there will be now more yowling at night.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Nine years old?
There’s just nothing quite like a lazy Sunday afternoon at gran’mommys house.
That old swing has seen a lot of action over the years.
And it’s a great place to capture a certain young lady who’s celebrating a special day.
You’re nine years old? Can’t be.
Happy Birthday, Eliana! We sure do love you.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Birthday eve
A couple of years ago, Eliana became interested in the martial arts.
Carmi and I assumed she would talk about it for a while and then move on to something else. While we didn’t necessarily encourage her, we certainly didn’t discourage her.
But at some point, it became obvious to both of us that Eliana was serious and this was more than just a passing fad.
Carmi researched the different martial arts acadamies in our area and found one that really impressed us.
So this morning, on the eve of Eliana’s birthday, we surprised her with a visit to the school.
I had spoken to the owner previously on the phone and told him we wanted to sign Eliana up for classes as a birthday present.
When we walked in and introduced ourselves, he pulled out a small selection of tops and let Eliana choose her favorite color.
She chose red.
And in an unbelievably kind gesture, he GAVE her the top and a white belt as birthday presents.
Following the one-hour class, we let Eliana choose where she wanted to eat lunch.
Carmi called it.
Eliana picked an italian restaurant near our house where she could get her favorite meal - spaghetti bolognese.
We so enjoyed one-on-one time with our Empress.
Then we headed back to gran’mommy’s house to pick up Zane and Karys and give our excited girl a chance to display her skills.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Now that’s a fire
Our church’s youth ministry had planned a bonfire for January 28th.
The weather was bad that night so our Youth Pastor rescheduled for February 4th.
Again the weather was uncooperative and the bonfire moved once more to this evening, February 18th.
Bad news is… it was like 72 degrees today!
Good news is… we had a fire anyway.
And what a fire!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A little sibling rivalry
And Zane won, by the way.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sweet moments
Almost every day, Karys brings home a book from school that Carmi usually helps her read before bed.
We remember these little books well from when Eliana was in kindergarten.
Sometimes, though, Carmi or I may be unavailable to read with Karys.
On those occasions, Eliana steps up and gives little sis a hand.
These are pretty sweet moments.
Regression
I was beginning to think that Karys had regressed to younger days.
Although neither of our girls ever really used a pacifier.
Then she revealed the candy ring pop.
And I thought, “Hmmm… this is not necessarily a bad thing.”
She can’t talk with a ring pop in her mouth!
2-hour delay
The kiddos are on a 2-hour delay for school today.
Really?
I could take a handful of snow and toss it and that’s about how much snow was on the ground when I left for work.
{extended}Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Emancipation day
{summary} {body} {extended}Friday, February 04, 2011
Science project
Carmi had a great idea this morning for a science project.
Carmi told Eliana that she could take all of the kidney stone fragments I’ve passed and reassemble them into the original kidney stone.
But just for the record, Eliana doesn’t have a science project due.
And also for the record, Eliana was none too interested in that idea.
{extended}Thursday, February 03, 2011
Again
Karys is sick.
Again.
She seemed fine when we came home from school. But she headed straight for my recliner and went to sleep with her coat still on.
Then when I tried to get her awake for dinner, her face was flushed and hot to the touch.
The thermometer indicated a temperature of 101.8 degrees.
Now is not a good time, sweetie.
Not when the biggest birthday party to date of your short little life is coming up in just 2 days.
{extended}Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Karys’ 6th birthday
Rumor has it that a little monkey (born in the Year of the Monkey) turned 6 years old today.
Happy Birthday, Karys!
You give us the gift of laughter every single day because of your silly ways.
And we love you!
