Toddler Toddler Toddler Two

"Two is the number just for you."

Two shoes (squeak, squeak):

Two eyes (blink blink), two hands (pudge pudge):

"Toddler toddler toddler two. Two is the number just for you."

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Recent conversation between me and a young boy at the park:

Boy: "Is she Asian?"

Me: "Yes, she's Chinese."

Boy: "Is her dad Chinese?"

Me: "No, he's Caucasian. Our daughter is adopted."

Boy (in total astonishment): "Wow! Does she call you 'Mama' and everything?"

Me (snicker snicker): "Yeah."

And then *I* was amazed once again that this girl--beautiful both inside and out--calls *me* "Ma-MAH." The miracle of adoption lives on.

Camped Out

We arrived at the neighborhood cookout and Pa got down to do this:

Once he gets that camera in hand, there is no telling what contortion he'll put himself into to get "the right shot."

He was aiming for a shot of the fire, in case that wasn't obvious:


Oh, and this time? He was working for me. That's luuuuvvv right there.

I needed some "camp fire" pictures for my latest article on katu.com.

You missed my first one? It was on bike safety. (Check out that old picture of my boy!)

That's all.

Friends Are Goofs Forever

My dear friend from college who has had the fortitude to put up with me for years upon years flew to the beautiful Pacific Northwest to see me.

Me!

We haven't changed much.

Oh, here. This shot's a little better.

We had a great visit. I made my pal work her fingers to the bone, making Thai food for me (and the neighborhood), keeping up with the kids.

Speaking of, guess who was a real hit with the kids?

And! While she was here, the Ma and Pa Senior also flew into town, so we had ourselves a happy little reunion of sorts.

These pictures were all taken in my neighbor's back yard, where we were having a cookout and a stuff-your-face-a-thon.

Add a roasted hot dog to some awfully (I didn't say "awful," Mom!) pleasant company? Sounds like a winner of an evening to me.

It May LOOK Like Bonding

But in reality, the Suz was just fascinated by my flaky dry skin.

Better than my leg hair, right Mom?

Khlass-eee.

Spidey Scooter

If you haven't discovered the joys of craigslist, I'm warning you. I may *hate* stuff, but cheap stuff in great condition that we'd actually use?

I'm all over that, just like Zig is all over his "new" Spidey Scooter:

In case you are a totally clueless nincompoop like me, scooters are ALL THE RAGE.

Or, they might not be, and I'm already behind the times.

But my six- and four-year-old set of boys see All Their Friends Riding A Scooter And They Will Simply Die If They Do Not Have One Too.

I quickly found a used scooter for the Zig, and am still scouring the ads for a used Razor for his brother.

And a little parenting advice for you?

DON'T EVER GIVE SOMETHING REALLY COOL TO ONE CHILD WITHOUT GIVING SOMETHING EQUALLY COOL TO THE OTHER.

Unless you want the folks in Zimbabwe to hear the sound of one child screaming.

I'm just sayin'.

Sweet Reunion

Though she may have been among the meekest and mildest of the babes in China, our Suz has made up for lost time:

"Who me? Center of attention?"

"Of course!"

"So let's cheer!"

I mean, if she isn't the very daughter meant for me, I don't know who is. Little Miss Sunshine has met her match with Mama Black Cloud.

Speaking of making my day A WHOLE LOT BRIGHTER, check out our clan of friends:

Those twins! And their parents! So cute and adorable!

(Speaking of the little tikes, of course.)

(The folks? We just like them because they're funny. And they like to eat. Two very important traits.)

And news! There's news!

In the past month, these friends of ours have moved from the deep south to "OUR" CORNER OF THE COUNTRY. I mean--Holy Smokes, it's a wonder the Pacific Northwest can handle all the excitement.

So they stopped by today to hoot and holler and to let our girls get reacquainted after not seeing each other for almost a year and a half.

And lest you think the girls ran toward each other in slow motion, with themed music playing in the background, well, mostly they just played like your standard two-year-old crowd. Separately.

But we made them give hugs when they left:

And truly, there is nothing sweeter than seeing those girls together again.

When I saw the picture of the girls hugging, I said to the Pa:

"They've come such a long way."

And with that, the dam burst.

They have come a long way. A long way from their first families and from their friends at the orphanage. They've come a long way from the sick little infants with IVs in their scalps to girls who walk, grunt talk, and hug. They've come a long way from the country of their birth to the country of their life.

If it isn't a miracle enough that these girls ended up in our homes, they now have the chance to know one another as friends. Not new friends, but friends who knew each other long before the crazy American parents came along.

They've come a long way, yet their journey is just beginning.

(To think that we could have missed this.)

There's Going To Be A Little Noise

Remember our trip to China? And this cute set of girls?


They're comin' to town. TODAY.

And they're dragging their folks along with them.


My neighbors might want to vacate for a while. Unless they happen to like the sound of Reunion Gone Wild.

Updated pictures to come.

Isn't That A Cute Little Bumblebee

I did NOT put my son up to this.

However, I DID take the picture. And I DID post the shot.

I hate myself.

(But my kids make me laugh.)

(So it's worth the humiliation.)

Every Day

Pa and I celebrated 11 years of marriage this month. In those years, there have been two births, a miscarriage, a trip across the world, an adoption, three moves, kids who are geeks, kids who bite, a chronic illness, a couple emergency surgeries, and oh! We've each had a brush with death.

But beyond all the Big Stuff there's the ordinary kinds of things. Rolling our eyes across the dinner table, backseat driving, barking orders, getting offended, leaving clothes on the floor, chewing too loudly, wrestling over issues, admiring the kids, making plans.

Somehow in all of that I have found a person who inspires to me keep going, to hold it together, to try again. I may call him "husband," but he's more like a hero to me.

And in this all-request anniversary hour, I dedicate Rascal Flatts' song, "Every Day" to the Pa.

[YES, IT'S COUNTRY, and YES, YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THE SONG.]

"Every Day"

You could've bowed out gracefully
But you didn't
You knew enough to know
To leave well enough alone
But you wouldn't
I drive myself crazy
Tryin' to stay out of my own way
The messes that I make
But my secrets are so safe
The only one who gets me
Yeah, you get me
It's amazing to me

[CHORUS]
How every day
Every day, every day
You save my life

I come around all broken down and
Crowded out
And you're comfort
Sometimes the place I go
Is so deep and dark and desperate
I don't know, I don't know

[Repeat Chorus]

Sometimes I swear, I don't know if
I'm comin' or goin'
But you always say something
Without even knowin'
That I'm hangin' on to your words
With all of my might and it's alright
Yeah, I'm alright for one more night-
Every day
Every day, every day, every day
Every day, every day
You save me, you save me, oh, oh, oh
Every day
Every, every, every day-

Every day you save my life

Grrrrrr

Well, since y'all missed seeing *my* lovely face so much, I thought I'd keep things fair and letcha take a gander at the Pa.

Goofing off at a gift shop.

A rare moment when *I* had the camera.

Well Hey There

I'm sending off the end of twelve days of (delightful!) company Tuesday morning.

So excuse me while I recuperate.

Meanwhile, take a moment to notice my neck hairs. What purpose they serve, I'll never know.

Kinda like this blog post.

For those of you who miss seeing my smiling face (Mom), here it is.

Some Things Never Change

Sister Susie still loves the swings. I love that the swing confines The Girl while I chase two equally busy boys.

Next thing I need is a "sleep" button on each child.

Jeepers Treepers

The same neighbor who got Zig in the hammock also got Campers to do this:

First tree he's ever climbed.

Not the first time I've spent a good deal praying.

Children are good for the spiritual life.

Hammock Heaven

Our neighbor introduced the boys to his hammock.

I can't decide if Zig is having fun or is frantic.

He doesn't exactly wear his emotions on his sleeve.

Pajama Party

I'm not sure what's funnier:

The froo-froo pajamas, or maybe the sandal tan:

OR the goof in the pajamas:

OR the silly whale spout hairdo:

Your vote?

Couple O' Pioneers

Who woulda thought my boys were on the Oregon Trail?

But the proof is in the picture.

They make a nice couple, dontcha think?

How Two Exhausted Parents Of Three Small Children Enjoyed The Fireworks

Pure bliss.

We watched about five minutes of the Live Fireworks Show before we got bored. And then we spent a good ten or fifteen minutes talking about how incredibly smart we were how much time and energy and stress we saved by staying home on July 4th.

Party on.

Rails To Trails To Frails

We've reached a Family Milestone. We went biking as a family. Of course, the 30 minute ride took us 345 minutes to prep for. But that ride! It was filled with whining and screaming and falling unspeakable joy.

These bike rides take me back to my childhood days, where I rode sans training wheels, always, because according to Pa and Ma Senior, I DIDN'T NEED NO STINKIN' TRAINING WHEELS.

Just a lot of Band Aids.

So before I learned to ride my own bike, my Mom used to sit me on her handlebars when we'd venture out as a fam. And no, I'm not permanently scarred about that time my Mom stopped and I fell right onto the road. Really, I'm not. I just replay it in my mind, several times a day.

OH, BUT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT OUR BIKE TRIP.

So we took the kids on a Rails to Trails ride--you know--where they transform the train rails to bike trails--and had a fiiiiiine time.

(If Pa was typing? He might mention having to carry Zig's bike AND push his own bike for a mile or so. But who needs to talk about that.)

(Oh, and there was this little thing about my bike chain falling off.)

(And Ziggy whining about being tired, so tired, super tired.)

But we were making memories.

Right, Mom?

Couch Potatoes

There used to be a day when Campers would sneak out of bed, grab some breakfast from the fridge, and slime yogurt all over the couch. Oh, and he'd watch cartoons on TV all at the same time.

Now the two boys wake each other up, just so they can read on the couch.

The geekiness lives on.

And yet.

It's not so much that they love to read, it's that they know that when their Ma catches them Up Before The Butt Crack Of Dawn, they will not get in trouble if they are "reading."

I'm a sucker, I know it.

Sprinkler Spectator

After the sprinkler trauma, Sister Susie decided to just sit on the sidelines and be Eye Candy.

Well, but then there were her feet, and those had to be looked at.

But then she caught some sprinklering in action and thought "Oh no! Somebody got wet! The horror of it all!"

Then Big Brother Campers came to kiss and make up. With his cold, soaking wet body.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Sibling Sprinklery

It finally got hot and dry enough in the Pacific Northwest to let the kids run amok through the lawn sprinkler.

And since two siblings were having fun, they had to share that joy with the third:

"Joy" being a euphemism for "hated anything and everything that even closely resembled cold water."

And her "squeals of delight" rivaled the local siren parade for sure.

And that is a day in the life of Sister Susie and her Two Older Brothers.

Strawberries The Easy Way

Took the boys to the local farmer's market to "pick" some strawberries.

They decided the market was the perfect place to practice their jumps.

Or as Campers put it, "Mom. We're just trying to ruin your picture."

They didn't seem to put up a fuss, though, when we got home with these:

Fresh strawberries and fresh raspberries.

Not too bad for a quick bus ride to the market and back.

Giant Strawberry

After our strawberry picking adventure, the boys decided to wrap up in their blankets and act out "strawberry."

3D Biking

The Zig, wearing his 3D glasses while riding his bike.



Fifty kinds of goof.

Gently Gently Rocks The Sea

Zig has a minor addiction to the tire swing. His Ma has an addiction to sitting down and resting, but once again, The Kids Win Out.

Someone, quick! Remind me what it feels like to have "free time."

So.

Zig and the swing. Faster, higher, more more more.

Pa started this game where he chants:

"Gently, gently rocks the sea...UH-OH...there's a stoorrrmmm coming!!!"

In this game, he starts swinging the tire gently and gradually moves up to ludicrous speed.

And when Ma's behind the tire, if I don't chant the words Just Like Pa, the Zig gets his panties all in a wad and I have to start all over.

Remind me what it feels like to have energy. Because mine is all used up by about 8:20 each day. A.M.

This next shot shows Zig giving The Look. The Look that says, "Hey, Adult Slaves! Stop standing there and come PUSH ME!"

And now it makes perfect sense why my parents hid in the basement eating ice cream while my brother and I fended for ourselves on the swings.

At least that's what *I* would have done.

You are not an Expert at Parenting until you have learned to hide well from the kids.

Well, as my Ma always said, "Practice makes perfect."

Shoes On

Whoever could it be?

In her oversize shorts and adult size shoes, it's the Suz:

Clomping around like an elephant, thinking she's Too Cool For School in her big honkin' tennies.

(Hey! Be careful whose feet yer makin' fun of, missy!)