How I’d Like to Cut My Hair

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So On my birthday this last year, I went out to a really cool market with my good friend Rose.   The best find form the trip?  This girl’s hair cut.  I want it.  Holly or Malissa (the Grannis girls with the hairdresser licenses)- hope you’re reading-

The funny part… can you see the extreme embarrassment on her face as I take pictures of every angle of her head.

Silently she whispers “please, somebody shoot me.  Better yet, get this crazy lady with the camera.”

 

But totally worth it for these shots, no?

T-Ball

While Tim’s Parents were in town, Hunter took them to his T-ball game.

Tanner and Grandma had a great time watching on the grass.

 

And Hunter had a great time showing off his moves for Grandpa.  I couldn’t find the better picture of the three generations, so the above will do.  Still pretty cute, no?  

Lovin’ on the Grandma.

Look at that arm!

Bat and run!  Go Hunter go!

Outdoor Bathing?!

You never know what you’ll find on this crazy blog.  I know.  Just thought a Summery post could warm up your weather, wherever you are.

During the Summer we went through this craz of wanting to have water fights all the time.  I literally got blisters on my fingers from tying water balloons (wimp confession, I ended up paying someone to fill a large bowl of water balloons before Hunter came home from school… see there’s a perk to living overseas!)

Anyway, we would get in these water fights with large pitchers and big gulp cups of water.  Then the boys would be covered in mud.

  So I had this brilliant idea to fill the kiddie pool with water and wash them off outside… down to shampooing their hair.

Notice the Summer humidity… it turned the lens so foggy! 

Happy Winter/Spring everyone!

Dinner Party Aftermath

Tim took these 2 pictures back to back one night after a weekend party, I cooked too much, & no paper plates. 

 

Mother, oh Mother,
come shake out your cloth,
empty the dustpan,
poison the moth,
hang out the washing
and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house
is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery,
blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little
Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done
and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing
will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up,
as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep'

Ocean Park

While in Hong Kong, we also went to Ocean Park, and of course, loved it!

 

Excited much?

Cable Cars

Loved seeing the Pandas.

Got to see two red pandas as well.

 

Carousel ride with the boys… see, here’s proof I exist, and not always the one behind the camera!

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Tann was a bit apprehensive about this ride, but as you can see, he got to loving it real quick.  The line was short, so the boys just kept rotating through over and over.

And of course a shout out to the lovely Katie Wan, my High School friend who cooked for us TWO times and hung out with us.  We truly love this family, they are so laid back and easy going… and way fun to be with.  Red rover, red rover Katie & Sam… !!!

Indoor Play Time

Sorry, these pics turned out a bit dark :(. But I wanted to share how excited I am that we have a cabinet to store all the baskets of toys to rotate throughout the day.

What can I say? I've got some pretty fun boys. While we have a bunch of fun together, they also enjoy quiet time just to play and build.


Here's Hunter doing his Mickey Mouse Puzzle.


And Tanner... building a "Christmas Tree", of course.


This is the part where he makes me sing "Oh Christmas Tree" to his Lego tower.

After a Hard Days Work

Do you remember the days when all you had to do ALL day was play?

 

And you worked so hard at it.  It was serious business.

You were so detailed and focused on… playing.  Playing. Playing.

 

Then after working so hard, you fell asleep in your Mom’s arms for an afternoon nap?  Because only she could understand how hard your job was, and only she would appreciate all the forehead sweat you’d wipe on her shirt.

Ah the days.

Side note: yes, while they fell asleep in my arms, you’d better bet I moved them to the sofas so I could absorb the quiet time in the house!

Train Ride

Did I ever tell you how we got to Hong Kong when we went there?...

...on a 16 hour train ride. And truth be told- Tim, was not what I would call 'forth right' in telling me how long it would be to get to Hong Kong prior to getting the tickets. I would have never agreed.

But truth should also be told- we had an absolute BLAST in our little cabin! When we counted our 'awake' time, we were really only on the train for 3 hours before bed, and 3 hours in the morning.


These pics were in the morning. We were eating junk food. We have a rule of thumb my brother Todd taught me: in your home, only stock your cupboards with healthy food. Save the 'eating of junk food' for when you're outside of the home.


The boys loved jumping from bunk to bunk. There wasn't a word of complaint the entire trip.

It was like camping for them (one thing we'll have to get around to trying).

We saved almost 1000 USD by having this fun bonding experience.

New Years With The Zhangs

For Chinese New Year, our adopted Chinese parents, Mr. Gan & Ms Zhang (Chinese usually don’t take on their husband’s last name) came over.

I don’t know if I’ve told you about Ms. Zhang.  Here you go:

The night before we interviewed to receive a baby in our home for fostering, I was out on a bike ride to a friend’s.  On the way home (it was late at night) I saw this beautiful couple going for a walk.  I felt impressed to stop at the stop light and talk with them. 

Right after I stopped, I realized my scooter/bike (we have a 3 wheeler that is motorized) ran out of batteries.  Mr. Gan insisted he push my scooter all the way home.  Mind you, this is no small task.  Our scooter bike is a huge clunker beast. 

Within days ‘Zhang Mama’ was at our house.  She bonded really quick with our little ones, and came over on a weekly basis.

  

The Zhangs are like family to us.  On Chinese New Year they brought fresh food over and cooked and cooked for us.

The boys love it when they come.  At this time, Tanner hadn’t had ear surgery yet, so he was still favoring Chinese (it is an easier language to hear, because of the tones).  When we asked Tanner to help pour water in Mr. Gan’s cup, Tanner replied in perfect Chinese “Ta YiJing YouLe!”, or “He already has some”. 

Many times throughout the night, Hunter kept saying “GanBei”, or “Dry Cup”, meaning “Cheers”, or “Bottoms Up”.  I think we paid him 1 kuai each time he did it.  The Zhangs thought it was pretty neat.

 

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!  Happy Chinese Year of The Tiger!!