Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, even sans Dae. Christian and I went over to Ev and Jeff's house and spent the night there in anticipation of early Black Friday madness.

Christian's Thanksgiving "feast" was a little on the healthier side - mashed broccoli

Stuart, Megan and Christian

Christian and Mal's legs, Part I and II

So Ev and I woke up at 4:45am and sped off to Jantzen Beach. Our goal this year was the Acer Netbook x 2 (one for our Christmas family donation and one for my assistant). Well, we were unsuccessful at our first attempt at Office Depot, so we decided to make a last minute change of plans and drove back to the Office Depot on MLK, our home turf. They ushered us in (about 20 or so people in line) and started handing out vouchers for the high-demand items. As luck would have it, Ev and I got the very last two vouchers for the Netbooks! And they only had 6 in the entire store, so we knew that it was meant to be! (plus they had Krispy Kremes and coffee - you really can't go wrong with those glazed!)


Friday evening, Christian and I took the Amtrak train home to visit dad and grandma. We relaxed all Saturday; Christian took the opportunity to read up on his Chinese news.


He also practiced squatting on all fours, what we hope is a precursor to crawling.


The biggest event to hit Richland in years was a visit by Sarah Palin. The whole town was abuzz over her book signing at a local store, and when my dad and I drove to the train station this morning at 5:00am the line was already beyond the building - in 38 degree weather no less! After I told Dae this, he texted back with "Richland people are not as smart as I thought" (very funny Dae!).


Lastly, we got Christian a slightly larger new jacket at Hanna Andersson with the thought that he will grow into it. It's still a little on the big side...

Where's Christian

Camouflaged in a sea of Hanna Andersson nightwear. Yup, we got matching pajamas! (Rest assured, at least it will remain in the privacy of our own home...well, if you don't count the blog)

Phoenix. And, Leelee doesn't like sweets?

I returned safe and sound from Phoenix to find that the boys had had a nice, gluttonous weekend. Dae even admitted that he probably overfed him a little (his words). If he says he overfed him, I can only imagine the worst! In all actuality, Dae and Christian did great and had a nice time together. They went to the grocery store, ate Korean food and even got photos with Santa at Washington Square Mall - a little early, granted, but Dae said he saw all the kids lined up to get photos and thought he better get in on it while it was hot. Mind you, Christian was in a variation of the exact same outfit the entire weekend, which was evidenced in the iPhone photos Dae periodically sent me throughout the weekend with the same suspicious onesie...



Here is a photo of me and Megan in Phoenix, looking probably the most made up I will look in a while...


And in totally unrelated news, I am now not sure that Christian is my child. The guy does not seem to like sweets, and I literally can't fathom anything possessing even one iota of my DNA not liking sweets! It seems implausible! He loves tofu, veggies and his Earth's Best Turkey Vegetable Dinner, but will take a pass on the bananas and apples. I can't wrap my mind around it, but I've decided not to argue with a good thing.

Gone with the Wind (Rain)

I'm off to Phoenix for a weekend with my friend Megan! First overnighter without Christian, so I definitely have some mixed emotions. Ecstatic that I can pack books and magazines that will actually be read (thoroughly) and sad and worried that I will miss my family a lot.

Today, Mal got a hold of my iPhone and impressively took a self-portrait:


Yesterday, Leelee sat up nice and still in the fitting room at Lululemon (didn't tip over once! Then again, he was all squared away in the corner):

And a couple of fun shots from the bathroom (yes, bathroom) the other day:

I think I'm going to miss those crazy boys...

Goodbye, Sideburns

Christian got his first trim this morning courtesy of Dad. His sideburns were getting a little out of control so dad took the shears to him in the bathroom.


Professional? No. Free? Yes!

We also had one of our most productive days in months. We visited Michael's Craft store, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Nordstrom Rack; as you might imagine, Dae was just thrilled to be sifting through bins of yarn at Michael's along with me and the 80 year old women. Leelee patiently waited as I tried on many a pair of jeans at the rack (and found one that I liked - score!).

Anyway, we have officially entered the realm of parenthood with our Bed, Bath and Beyond purchase: clear vinyl covers for our barstools...

Just gorgeous. The "plan" is to only put them on when small children are over. I have a feeling laziness will override esthetic and they will become a permanent fixture.

Fun with Passports

I think "trial and error" would also be a fitting description for this post. Christian and I went to Auntie Ev's for a portrait sitting at Ev's Personal Passport Studio - personalized service and free of cost, can't beat that! The passport picture regulations are pretty strict, with no flexibility for infants. It must be in-focus, without a pacifier or adult hand in the photo, the subject is looking at the camera, and eyes are open. In order to meet all of these criteria we had to take a few shots. Here are the trial runs.


And the winner is...

This is about as good as it's going to get. If Christian is denied access on foreign soil we might actually have to pay for passport photos (not to say Ev didn't do a fabulous job!).

Latest update: Christian says "O-ma" now. Yahoo!!! I'm tricking myself into believing this is a predecessor to "Mama" while Dae is frantically teaching him to say "Da" again.

One other alarming development: Those curly eyelashes are slowly creeping downward. I think Dae's strong genes might be fighting mine (and beating them out). It'll be an epic battle, I'm sure.