Gotcha Day + 2: Part 1

It feels like just yesterday we frolicked around China, but shock upon shock, we've had our Suz home for two years. Two. Years.

We celebrated the anniversary with our China-travel-friends-who-live-close-enough-to-pop-in-every-once-in-a-while.

First stop: Thai food.

After all, it makes perfect sense. Thailand is kinda like China, right? They're on the same continent, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, I happen to luuuurrrve Thai food and there's this great little shack just down the street. So that's where we started our weekend adventure.

A weekend which happened to be nearly a month ago, but who's keeping track?

MY MOTHER, for starters.

Anyway.

Let's see. The girls are all growing up (really?!) and talking where we can all understand them. They're not yet talking to one another--at least not much. They'll point and say names; that's about the depth of their conversations. But I have no doubt that over the next year or two, that will change quite a bit and they will be fast friends. And now let's all say together, "FIFTY KINDS OF CUTE."

More pictures and stories to come.

Hair Update

My bangs keep growing.

ISN'T THAT EXCITING?

I've been trying out a new 'do since last fall, heading towards the all-one-length-tapering-towards-the-jaw look.

Pa has held back many an opinion since I've started this little project, but there was one day (ONE DAY!!) he said, "Hey! Your hair looks nice today."

I said, "Get it on camera."

Bouffant is not the look I'm going for, though. I'm aiming for sleek and stylish.

Mmm-hmmm.

With a Brillo Pad for hair, I'm not thinking I'm going to hit that goal.

Moving on.

To cuter subjects:


Just had to get a shot of those piggies.

Her hair can stick out at the sides and it just plain looks cute. And I have no doubt that when she wants a style that is sleek, her hair will be able to handle it. It's the truth.

"You can't handle the truth!"

And that's the hair update for this millennium. Other, more riveting blog posts to follow.

PS: We were at Ikea. In case you were wondering.

Guess Who Got Some Scanned Images In The Mail?

You have my Dad to thank for any future "oldie" pics you'll be seeing. And by "oldie," I mean OLDIE. When *I* was a kid.

So.

E-mail from my sister-in-law in three...two...one...

I think we can safely say I didn't have a career in dancing.

Only a white farm girl from the sticks can move as robotic as that.

Speaking only of myself, of course.

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Kids are on the mend, thanks for asking.

Puzzle is done, too. Which means the children might get lunch at least once this week.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I am not nearly as smokin' hot today as I was in that picture you see above.

In case you were wondering.

An Update And An Oldie Pic. To Appease The Bloggy Gods.

Anyone guess the year on this picture?

And now, an update. Deep breath; let's go.

Sister Suz has the croup. Ziggy and Campers got the eternal cough. There's the sick report.

I've slept about five minutes the past two nights. There's the grouch report.

Four of us have been to the dentist; all got bloody gums and a clean bill of health. There's the tooth report.

Started subtraction, memorizing Asian countries, and reading Old Yeller. There's the school report.

Been in charge of a collection for the homeless people project. Teaching the Lord's Prayer in Sunday School. There's the church report.

Sunny, dry, and temps in the 50s. There's the weather report.

Watched Madagascar 2, working on a 750-piece puzzle, taking crazy photos with Pa. There's the entertainment report.

Our adoption is steadily moving along. Here's the latest report.

Got a truckload of stories. A backlog of pictures. No time to get it all down. There's the bloggy report.

XOXO.

My Senior Year Of High School

Facebook made me write this. I'm posting an edited version here to entertain the Not On Facebook Crowd, and also to give my mother a good laugh. And mark my word -- she will remember my senior year of high school far better than me.

Did you date someone from your school?
HECK NO. I was not exactly what you’d call, “dating material.” Too prickly, too geeky, too picky. I had no boyfriend until college. NONE. And I never remember being dissatisfied about that. (See, “too picky.”) My husband was my first boyfriend. He was the first to put up with me, so I kept him around. Oh, wait. I'm getting off track already...

Did you marry someone from your high school?
No, no, never never, nuh uh uh.

Did you car pool to school?
My senior year? I have no clue. I DO remember getting up too late, taking long showers and wasting all the hot water, and then speeding to school. So I guess I drove. Prior to that, I rode with my my brother and his friends and MY WORD, I am FORTUNATE to be alive today. Roller coasters got nuthin’ on a teenage boy behind the wheel.

What kind of car did you have?
Seeing as it was almost 20 years ago that I started to drive (!!!), I hardly remember. I learned to drive on the "Smurfmobile," which was my Dad's stick-shift blue Toyota truck. I think I stalled that thing approximately 873 times on one trip to town. I eventually bought a Ford Bronco.

What kind of car do you have now?
Honda Odyssey. The Queen Mother of All Things Vehicular.

What did you do on Friday night?
I went to (nearly) every football or boys' basketball game on the books. Lots of times my friends would go to Pizza Hut right afterwords. On off nights, I'd likely go out to eat and shop with my parents. I didn’t care if people thought I was a loser! I knew who was footing the bill! Plus they're just fun people to be around, BUT I DIDN’T SAY THAT OUT LOUD.

What kind of job did you have in high school?
I had a job from age 15+ during the summers only. I'd travel around the state doing 3x a day music sessions at a camp for teens. I met a lot of great people during those years. None of whom I keep up with, BUT STILL. FRIENDS ARE FRIENDS FOREVER. I also worked in an office doing the most mundane of tasks -- shredding paper, sticking labels on folders, erasing other people's mistakes. And I am SO NOT JOKING about that.

Were you a party animal?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Maybe you need me to translate: HA HA, HA HA, HA HA, HA!

Were you considered a flirt?
I really don't know. Even though my mother thought otherwise, I always LIKED boys, just never dated. I tended to like boys outside my "range" though; i.e., Not Nerds. If I flirted, it probably looked a lot like me talking really loudly and making lame jokes. Kinda like I do with everybody.

Were you in the band, orchestra, or choir?
Band and choir, and everything in between. I played the alto sax (LOUDLY), accompanied the choir, and sang alto (LOUDLY).

Were you a nerd?
Absolutely! AND PROUD OF IT! I regret that I didn't do quiz bowl sooner. THOSE WERE MY PEOPLE.

Did you get suspended or expelled?
Snerk. I was a goody-two-shoes. Obviously.

Can you sing the fight song?
Um, I honestly can't remember it. All that comes to mind is my college song, "Up beyond the village border..."

Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Music teacher; Math teacher

Where did you sit during lunch?
Same cafeteria table, same friends. Every day. To do otherwise would have broken the "rules."

If you could go back and do it again, would you?
No. I'd go back and do COLLEGE again, but not the class work. Just the fun stuff, like overseas trips, concerts and events.

Did you have fun at the prom?
No. Not really my thing. Neither were all the other dances I went to. Although, I DID have a great time as The Wallflower Who Made Jokes On The Side. That's more my style. There are still some songs that take me right back to the crooning along on the sidelines: “Red, Red Wine,” “Hold Onto The Night,” and “More Than Words.”

Would you change anything about your senior year?
I would have skipped playing basketball (which I was no good at and didn't really enjoy anyway -- well except for cracking jokes on the bench -- MY WORD DO YOU SENSE A THEME).

Least/most favorite subjects?
Least: History. English. Science. Phis Ed. Art.
Most fave: Music. Math. Typing.

Do you have any regrets?
I regret not being kinder to the kids in my class (the nicknames, oh the nicknames!) that no one was kind to. I was not exactly Miss Congeniality.

Would you consider yourself well liked?
In certain, small, circles. I think the Popular Boys in my class probably spoke a sum total of three words to me during my senior year of high school. And the Just One Step From Jail Bird Boys wouldn't have gone within ten feet of me. But as you can see from # 25, I didn't exactly win any likability awards either. But with the geek crowd, MY WORD, did we clown around and consider ourselves to be DA BOMB.

What would you tell your classmates if you could?
I wasn't really that smart; I just knew how to get good grades. (And hello, I didn't cheat. Okay! Only in 2nd grade. On math drills. But I eventually felt bad and stopped that. So there.) But for the most part I'd just say, "Hey? Whatcha been up to?" And then I'd try to make them laugh. Because I guess that's what I do.


There. I hope that kept y'all entertained.

This Is Just Five Minutes Of My Day

Firstly.

PUT DOWN THAT PHONE.

She was not bleeding, and she was not in pain.

But she was a mess. And she was in trouble.

Let me beep and back up.

THAT girl, MY girl has a real issue of grabbing things off the counter.

Now. Before I was a parent I would have told myself this:

"Well, just tell her NOT to. And if that doesn't work, use a consequence."

HA HA, HA HA, HA HA, HA!

Well.

No one ever told me that children are so persistent. That it takes 483 times of instructing them in the right way to do something before it finally clicks. (Which means, they simply grow out of that stage and move onto something even more aggravating.)

So. I happened to be making soup the other day and OH THE UNIMAGINABLE AND UTTER HORROR, left a couple of cans of opened beans on the counter top. I got called to the next room, and Slinky Stinky Sneaky Suz made her move. Next thing I know, she stood right in front of me, silent, and covered in sauce. I had a moment of shock before I realized that it was not blood she was wearing but beans.

I then gave her The Look, which was followed shortly by The Tears, and soon thereafter, The Camera.

See. I have learned a thing or two about parenting: Document the disasters. The pictures will come in handy someday.

Namely, for therapy.

Our China Adoption Trip

February 2007.

Seventeen days in China.

It was a trip that changed my life, and one I'll tell stories from for the rest of my life.

I've put together this table of contents so that the blogged events are chronological and easy for people to find.

Enjoy the trip.

Day 1 :: Missing the Flight

Day 2 :: Flight Plan B

Day 3 :: Going Carry-On Only and Landing in Beijing; Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City; Pearl Factory, Summer Palace, and Silk Factory; Peking Duck

Day 4 :: Church Service and Jade Factory; Climbing the Great Wall; Olympic Buildings and Chinese Acrobat Show

Day 5 :: Flight and Bus Ride to Province; Paperwork at Civil Affairs Building; Gotcha Moment; The Stare Down; Footprints, Fees and Fatigue

Day 6 :: First Bath, Passport Office, and Antibiotic IV; Dinner and Entertainment at the Yunnan Families Restaurant

Day 7 :: Seeing the Chinese Countryside; Stone Forest; Embroidery Museum and Local Kids

Day 8 :: At the Orphanage Clinic; Yunnan Nationalities Village

Day 9 :: Last Day at the Orphanage; Bits and Pieces of China

Day 10 :: Flight from Province to Guangzhou; Chinese Medicine

Day 11 :: Fun at the Folk Art Museum; Folk Art Museum Part 2; Twins and the Year of the Pig

Day 12 :: Physical Exam; Red Couch Picture

Day 13 :: Tea House; Park in Guangzhou

Day 14 :: Shopping in Guangzhou; River Cruise

Day 15 :: Travel Group Photos; Restaurant with Childcare; Fishy Dining Adventure

Day 16 :: Swearing at the Consulate; Thai Food and Diaper Changing Cheerleaders; Farewell Dinner; Travel Guide Sherry; Squatty Potty; Our Official Goodbye to China

Day 17 :: Journey Back to American Soil; Welcome Home Party at the Airport

Two Years Ago Today

I will never, ever, forget the day I first met my girl.

Two years ago today she was placed in my arms--sick with pneumonia and wide-eyed at the stranger she would someday call "Mom."

And now? She's a treasure. To us all.

Lights In The Woods

Right around Christmas time (I KNOW, I KNOW, GET OFF MY CASE), I kept reading about this "lights in the woods" thing we could go to for free.

It all sounded so outdoorsy, so Christmas-spirity, so easy on the pocketbookety. So, each weekend when the event rolled around, I'd ask Pa if he wanted to go. His answer was always the same:

"MEH."

Finally I just got a burr in my saddle and said to the fam, "WE ARE GOING."

And so we did.

We traveled about 20 minutes out of the city, parked the van, and found this:

I have not heard the end of it YET.

I, of course, HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR and laughed my fool head off while I walked alongside the SINGLE STRAND OF LIGHTS in the woods.

The kids took on the mood of their Pa.

"This is it? This is ALL there is? What a waste of time!"

Which, of course, only added to my non-stop giggling.

Here we are, crossing a bridge in the dark of night:

I just dare you to find a strand of lights in that shot.

Fortunately, much to Pa's level of happiness, the neighborhood that hosted the big and flashy "Lights In The Woods" also had a big kid-fest downtown.

So the kids got to decorate cookies:

While the Ma and the Pa had free ice cream:

It was a perfect end to a perfectly hilarious evening.

It's the stuff that memories are made of, fer shure.

South American Night

In school this year, I'm making Campers learn all of the countries of the world so that *I* can learn them as well.

Of course, his brain matter is not 873 years old, retaining water, AND trying to keep up with three loose cannons and a husband all at the same time. So, he usually memorizes a list of countries before *I* do.

Show Off.

So.

In the category, "101 Ways To Irractitate* My Family," I've been cooking up an international meal each time we study a continent.

We did something for Central America a couple of months ago, but because I have no pictures of the event, it might as well not have happened. No pictures = no memory.

So.

On to South America.

I believe the kids were saying "Ole!" in this picture:

Let's get a close-up of that food:


I sauteed a batch of kale, and salted it enough to preserve us all until 3014.

The white rice recipe included some sauteed onions which WERE NOTICED RIGHT AWAY BY and QUICKLY PICKED OUT BY a certain four-year-old who shall remain nameless.

[Mother, now is about the time you tell us how you blindfolded me as a young lass, made me eat a bite of chili to see if I could taste the onions in the soup, and--I know this will come as a shock--OF COURSE I COULD.]

See? You just never know what kinds of things you'll learn about on these here blawg.

Kale and rice! Moving along!

I made the empanadas (holy cow! it's a food blog!) by mixing some cooked chicken with a carton of cream cheese with chives, sticking a little of the meat mixture in a wonton wrapper and then baking it in the oven. So easy! (All of these recipes are in the South American book listed on my brain dump blog.)

But the high point of the meal was definitely the flan. Nothing takes me back to High School Spanish Class as fast as the thought of flan. Isn't that what everyone brought in for "Spanish Cultural Day?"

Before we get all carried away with my own attempt at flan, let's get a glimpse of what's it's supposed to look like (note: image is not my own):


Now. MY flan smelled a whole lot like scrambled eggs while it was being cooked to death baking in the oven. But, just take a look at this beauty displayed on the plate:

It sorta tasted like scrambled eggs, too. Only with a whoooooooole lot of sugar added in.

Hmm, I might have to start using the blindfold. "Yes, but can you TASTE THE EGGS, KIDS?"

Keepin' it real, one disaster blog post at a time.

*That's a word one of the contestants on American Idol used a few weeks back. It's become a household word. Sorry, kids. Your Pa and I have gone off the deep end. We apologize for all of the re-training that will have to be done once you've flown the coop.