Mama, Take My Photo!

"Mama, take a photo of me!" (I oblige)

"Mama, take a photo of me Pooing" (I oblige)

The backwards pooing is the best idea ever - Thanks Ev!

Funny tidbit: Christian often says "I love that song!" when anything musical comes on, song or not. Often I don't think he really knows what's playing, but he'll say "I love that song!" anyway.

Criminal at the Auto Show

You can just make out Leelee's little mug in the backseat of the patrol car

For some reason I was itching to go to the Portland Auto show once I found out it was this weekend. The top reasons: 1) $50,000 putting competition sponsored by Honda (Dae did not win) 2) Jeep riding area for kids 3) free wine tasting (did not partake - we came in the morning).

It was still lots of fun. There was this little Jeep area for kids that Leelee participated in. I was surprised that he actually got into the car and drove it around, although he did one loop of the 20 foot track or so and decided he was done and wanted off.

Listening closely to driving instructions. (Are you surprised they had a helmet that fit him? I was!)

We found the balloon guy after a few not-so-subtle requests from Leelee and got this enormous balloon hat that Leelee loved until one of the balloons that secured to his head broke. He was then done with balloon hat.

Paint by Color

A group of my dentist friends and I went to Vine Gogh studios in Sellwood today where she teaches a painting class. (We basically copy what the instructor does, which works well for me.) It was so fun!!!

You can currently find mine hanging up proudly over Leelee's growth chart, drying. Embarrassingly, yes, I will probably hang it somewhere in our house! I kind of like it. hehe.

The Planets, or at least Nap Schedules, Aligned

At this very moment, they are all 3 sound asleep.

Stinky Ears

We can always gauge how long it has been since Olin had a bath by the smell of his ears. They are the first body part that starts getting 'ripe'! Of course, I absolutely love the smell.

Here he is, suspiciously eyeing the bath (sink)

Christian gets a daily report card. Part of this one reads: "Christian had a very good day and played very nicely with the girls in his class. He kept putting on the backpack and pretended to take the choo choo train to the beach". haha. (I'm surprised he didn't specify "beach house", as he loves the "beach house", but makes it clear to us he does not like the "beach".)

Loves opening the mailbox and then taking a stroll along the countertops. I am sure the other residents are thrilled.

All eyes on Mal and her exemplary reading skills!

Grandma's Visit

My mom came down to visit this past week and it was great fun. She wasn't about to let the Big Snowstorm of 2012 deter her, so after a day's delay and a big pile of snow in Seattle, she arrived via Amtrak train on Tuesday evening. As usual we were treated to lots of delicious grub, her watching the kids, and this time a haircut for Olin as well as Chinese New Years treats for the kids. Ev, my mom and I quickly settled into a nighttime routine of gossip magazines and Belgian raspberry beer. Yummy...

Traditional red envelopes filled with cash for the kids, gold coins, and a check for each of their educational funds. Thanks mom! She even took each kid to the store of their choice to spend their $10. Mal chose Lloyd center and got a Hello Kitty calendar and a chocolate milk. (I guess she went over her budget by 20 cents but my mom still allowed her to purchase the milk - haha!) Didi chose Safeway (of all places!) and got a coffee for his mom, gummy candies for Mal and Leelee and a chocolate milk for himself + gummies. Generous guy! And Leelee ended up at the Dollar Store where my mom said he was "very social and talkative" with a lady in a wheeled cart behind him in line. He picked out a few items but whittled it down to just a pack of magnets at the checkout line. He also got a chocolate milk. (I guess we know the way to these kids' hearts is straight through chocolate milk!)

Every morning Leelee wakes up at his obscene hour (5am) and heads straight to Puo Puo's room where he snuggles in bed and watches iPad galore. Lucky little fella...(and we sure have been appreciating the extra sleep!).

The Big Haircut (before)

And After (so much better - those sideburns were totally out of control)

It was a 2-man job

Happy little boy. Loves grandma. (ignore argyle sweater vest that is 3 sizes too big)

Kindercare's Winter Gala

Dae and I both took off from work early to attend Leelee's first recital (loose definition) today. He was to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" with his little Kindercare class and had been practicing all week at home. Well, all was fine and dandy and he was very excited to see both Mama and Baba at daycare picking him up. We could tell though, that he was quite tired and seemingly under the weather (we had been called twice in the past two weeks to pick him up early due to fever). As luck would have it, right before the class was going to start singing, he accidentally got knocked over by his teacher and took a little spill. Never one to under-react, the waterworks came on and any thoughts that he might sing went by the wayside. Oh well. He did manage to miraculously recover by the the time the cookies came out. Scarfed down two and went home...

Just after the spill - elbow is seriously injured, as you can tell

Teapot Crown

Watching from the safety of Baba's lap

Naked Disobedient Boy

This is what I have to contend with every morning I take Leelee to Kindercare. This morning he thought it was hilarious to sit next to the changing table and throw every piece of clothing I had carefully laid out onto the floor. It's usually a 20 minute ordeal or so, getting him dressed. Today, however, he was actually smiling at his throwing victories...usually he's crying and/or yelling. We've implemented a 'noodle jar' where he gets one noodle for every time he's good at changing into his clothes or Pj's. Once the noodle jar is full, he gets a grand prize trip to the carwash. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Cabo Sans Kids?

Remember that little trip to Cabo that Dae and I purchased at the auction in September where he won the putting contest? Well it has come time to book it and we confirmed it today for the first week in June. Yahoo! Tonight, after doing some serious research on the resort, I got a crazy thought...do we dare even imagine going down there just Dae and me, sans kids? Well I tentatively approached Dae with the idea and we quickly dismissed it as an insane thought. Who would watch our kids for an entire week and not go nuts? Would we feel guilty the entire time we were down there?

Well, it appears our predicted guilt was pretty much nonexistant because about 5 minutes later he was pondering aloud "well, I could get my mom to watch them no problem" and I was saying "you know, we don't have to stay the entire 7 nights - we could stay 5". A quick phone call later to Dae's parents and it looks like we're off to Cabo by ourselves! Turns out Dae's parents wanted to visit in June anyway, so they would come over to Portland for a week or two and watch the boys as well.

So...for the past hour or so I have been dreaming about what I would do at a resort in Mexico for five solid days with no responsibilites! This is what I've come up with:

1) Sleep in!

2) Read a book with no interruptions

3) Go to the bathroom with no interruptions (haha)

4) Read a magazine from cover to cover

5) Lay out in the glorious sun...yes, with no interruptions. I hope my bad-weather luck does not accompany us down there.

6) Internet!

7) Snorkel, together. In Hawaii we would take turns snorkeling and watching Leelee.

8) Eat a leisure meal at a restaurant. No spills! No demands for milk! No crawling around on our hand and knees cleaning up the floor after crumbs the size of entire meals are dropped!

9) Exercise without pushing an extra 30-40 pounds or a baby strapped to my back.

10) Swim (without a toddler who's terrified of water).

11) Have a beer, or 2 or 3.

12) Pack just one carry-on bag. No carseat, no stroller, no diapers, no toys. Just what I need for myself. Can't even imagine that I can fill a single suitcase.

13) Sleep on an airplane!

14) Watch movies on an airplane!

15) Watch gobs and gobs of TV.

And the list goes on. But I'll just go ahead and rain on my own parade: I'm pretty sure by Day 2 (ok, maybe Day 3) we will miss those little guys like crazy and wish to be coming home, or at least wish they were there. Maybe we'll chicken out and bring them after all. Hmmm, quite the conundrum. Stay tuned...

Muffins, Anyone?

Leelee grabbed the muffin tin and slid around bare-bottomed in the kitchen today. (Beware any mini-muffins from this kitchen! haha)

Leelee's Imagination

Leelee's imagination is beginning to run wild, and I am all for it! He set ups a little choo choo train with his new Ikea chairs and asks if we want to board his train for a ride to the grocery store to get him some milk. So we oblige, and he says the following:

"Chugga chugga chugga chugga choo choo! All aboard? All aboard!" Then he finds some reason that he has to get off ("I need to go get my jacket" or "I need to get some gum" or "the tires are broken, I need to fix them") but demands that we stay on board. I guess there are no hop on/hop off privileges on his train! Once we arrive at our destination he leads us to either Safeway (the laundry room) or Auntie Ev's house (also conveniently the laundry room). Repeat...indefinitely...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We've welcomed in the new year with some sleep deprivation :) Leelee gets up at least once a night yelling and crying. He then gets up for good around 5am. Dae will usually plop him in front of Blues Clues and pass out on the couch with him while I get a few more zzz's in with Olin in bed.

I've been really obsessed with Pinterest. Dae will come home any given night from work to a variety of new meals. (I think he is probably scared!) He says it all tastes good but I think he's just being nice, and afraid to rock the boat in case this cooking thing isn't here to stay!

New Year's Eve was really nice. Dae was on call so I took the kids overnight to Ev's beach house where we iPad-ed and had champagne through the late hour of 10:30pm, when everyone retreated to bed. Tired old bunch of people we are.

Olin's favorite pasttime - watching TV at Ev's beachhouse

'Playing basketball' at the MAC on Family Friday

Nanny says Olin prefers Leelee's bed best for naps. I tested out her theory on Thursday and it seemed to hold true.

Miscellaneous: Leelee has a couple of books kind of memorized... Snuggle Puppy and Bear Wants More. Sometimes he knows the page where certain sentences are and it actually looks like he's reading the page which we of course find hilarious.