Christmas 2012

It snowed on Christmas Day! How nice. We got an inch or two of good snow and it has stuck around the past few days. The kids had a nice time in the snow and made a snowman yesterday. Excuse me, I made the snowman, Leelee kicked it over which he loves doing (he kicked one over at Kelly's house too) and then I remade it, all while the baby was crying in the background because he didn't want to be outside.

We later added a hat and scarf so it wasn't so bare bones.

Christmas itself was good. Christmas Eve we dipped into our stockings and each got movies and candy. When I was a kid I always wanted one of those Lifesaver books so I have made it a point to get those every year for kids and Dae (although these days they aren't even a real 'book' - they are just a small front flap. The actual candy is in bags which you get to by opening the top of the box. Disappointment!)

Christmas Day marked the second annual Hootnanny breakfast (kind of like a German pancake - it rises really high in the oven) with some strawberries on top. Thankfully nobody went overboard on gifts. Dae received a trench coat from Banana Republic that didn't fit so we need to exchange it. I received an iPad Mini (which was officially Dae's since Kadlec funded it, but Dae offered it up to me and I gladly accepted). Olin received a Fisher Price music chair, purchased on Craigslist for $20. Leelee was the big gift recipient this year with a Lego airplane (purchased last year but never given to him since he already got a Lego firetruck last year), a Play-Doh ice cream set (he showed no interest in that so we quickly stashed it away to re-gift next year to Olin!) and a Razor Scooter. I know that Christmas is a huge deal for a lot of people, but I have to say it feels so much better for me when we don't go crazy with gifts. I end up feeling overwhelmed when there are too many gifts. And then we end up forgetting all the things we've even gotten. Even this year, Leelee has gotten so many new toys that he has literally forgotten about 80% of them.

See baby's outstretched arms in both this photo and the first photo in the snow? This is his new position - he is almost always requesting one of us to pick him up. It's so cute, though. His new (old) Fisher Price seat is right behind him. Also, those jammies are officially way too small for him. They are capri jammies!

Dae modeling his size M coat - too small, he says.

Lego assembly.

Tomorrow we leave for our last (and final!) trip of the month - Seattle. I am officially exhausted from driving with the kids and setting up camp in another house every weekend this month and them not sleeping well. But it's for a good cause - spending the night with my friend Trena at her new house on the lake, seeing my mom for a couple of nights after their Israel trip and spending a full day with Megan and a little pampering! Hard to complain about that.

Also, baby cut another tooth recently. His lower right molar, #S. Tonight I found out that Dae had no idea Olin has 3 molars and has only been brushing the front six! haha. If my kids get cavities, I will be really embarrassed, and will most definitely try to place the blame on Dae!

Leelee Talk

Leelee has said some funny things lately:

1) "Mama, how come you're taking a shower?"
    Because I went to exercise.
    "And you're dirty?"
    Yup.
    "And you're washing the bugs out of your hair?"
    Yup

2) Unfortunately, he loves saying the word "Butt". This past weekend at Ev's house:
    "If Mal and Didi come back, and I'm changing my clothes, they're gonna see my butt!"

I think he said this one because we had been at Nordstrom Rack changing rooms and I told him not to look under the dividers because people didn't like to be seen changing their clothes. I did not, however, mention the word butt!

3) "How come it's not coming down the dream?" (translation: How come the water was not going down the drain in the sink)

4) He learned a new song which goes like this:
    "North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia. Don't forget Oceania, don't forget Antarctica" 
When he says "Oceania", it's so cute, and he says 'arctica' instead of Antarctica.

Date Night

Dae and I had a date night tonight, just the two of us. We've gone out for dinner events, or date nights with other couples, but it's been a while since it's been just the two of us. So we asked the babysitter to come over at 4:45pm (yes...embarrassingly early!) and we drove over to Twigs Martini bar for happy hour. I had had an itch to go bowling for some strange reason and Dae had told me he'd take me, so after a couple of hours at happy hour we headed over to Atomic Lanes and partook in a couple of serious games of bowling. As usual, annoyingly, Dae was naturally good. As usual, annoyingly, I was naturally bad. Argh! I think my score on the first game was 52 and I think Dae's score was 120. We were laughing at how pathetic both our scores were. I upped my score to about a 60 and I can't remember what Dae's score was on the second game.

After bowling we spotted Joker's casino conveniently located within the bowling alley. Never one to shy away from a good game of Black Jack, Dae suggested we head on over and I agreed under the condition that we set a low limit and leave, win or lose, after we had gone through that amount. We emerged victorious at a $575 profit! Woohoo! We were pretty excited. :) All in all, a great night.

Look at that form. I had Dae videotape me so I could see where I was going wrong. (I will save you the agony of watching a videotape of me bowling!)

Today, Leelee had his Christmas program at Montessori School. Here he is in the front row, very right side. He was smiling the entire first half of the program once he spotted us. So cute. 

New Teeth, Bball, Etc.

Olin cut two more teeth in the last couple of weeks. I think they are #B and #I (upper molars) but I can't tell if they are first or second molars back there! I assume first. So now he's got 8 teeth.

Leelee's basketball pictures from his YMCA team came in last week. It's a step up from his school photos :) The team coach, Nat, is the husband of a high school friend, Jocelyn, and they really made the experience as fun as it could be. They even had trophies made for each kid, and when Leelee received his trophy he was so excited he brought it with him to naptime.

On our jog today we ran into Mrs. Wang, mother of my classmate Larry. She is in her mid-60's and has been running marathons for about 10 years now. She's pretty amazing - we asked her how far she was running today and she said "about 15 miles". No big deal!

Windy Richland

Richland has pretty low rainfall every year. It's usually nice and sunny year round. However, Richland has wind, and I mean some serious wind! We woke up to it around 4:30 in the morning, thinking our house was going to blow away. They said it was around 45mph, which makes me wonder how people can survive the crazy storms with 100 mph winds. Anyway, the wind did wreak some havoc around these parts (see below).  So much so that Kelly and I canceled our run today for the first time since moving here. We were slated to run 8 miles and I was actually looking forward to it, for some weird reason.

Our nice little patio set from Freddy's, strewn about the yard like garbage! I haven't even put it back into place yet since the wind is still whipping around like crazy. Better to wait for a calm day, and when I am feeling less lazy.

We got back yesterday from our last and final trip this holiday season...Portland. Ev and Jeff hosted me, the kids, and Gong Gong (Dae was on call so he stayed home) for a nice weekend of shopping at Columbia employee store and Nike employee store (score!), gingerbread house making for the kids, home made meals by Jeff, and a prime rib buffet dinner at the MAC which was delicious (we never refuse a buffet!). Gong Gong and I traveled via Amtrak to Portland and the ride was so nice. I love the train. I mean, it's still a workout with the kids, and there is no relaxation or magazine reading happening, but we got to go up to the scenic car and eat our meals at tables, the kids got to run around just a little, and we even fashioned a little bed at the foot of our seats where Leelee, Olin and I fell asleep last night on the way home. Never mind that we finally fell asleep 30 minutes before we arrived, it was still nice!

Gingerbread house making. I ate enough graham crackers to feed an army of people.

Cryin' on the way back from Nike

Finally, asleep.

Cuteness

Olin's got croup now. He's doing the seal-like barking cough and he is really acting under the weather. In other news, I grabbed a few iPhone photos over the past couple of days that highlight a day in the life of a Lee...

Lunch at Dairy Queen. This is not an everyday occurrence! This was an Advent Calendar special.

This is Leelee's mad face. A lot of the time he will tilt his head down so his neck touches his chest when he's mad.

Olin at the doctor's office waiting for vaccines, pantless (with his new Puma's on).

Leelee puzzling

Olin demonstrating his acrobatic prowess as well as our inattention to safety (but I was right there to catch him!)

Olin's version of a tantrum. He slowly lays down on the floor and starts crying. 

Seattle, Christmas 2012

All the usual suspects from last year with the addition of Stacy's mom (front right) and baby Morgan (in her arms, 1 month old)

Didi, as happy as I've ever seen him , with the promise of presents as long as he cooperates for a photo. Ev said he has not cooperated for a family photo in a LONG time. Guess it's all about the incentive.

Seattle was fun! As to be expected. It's always a lot of fun to spend time with my mom and Ev as we all have very similar interests (gossip magazines, laying around watching TV, and internetting) and it's always a very relaxed environment. My mom had all sorts of great treats for us and the gifts were a huge hit this year:

Mal: iPod touch (my mom's old one), knitting kit, globe
Didi: Power Rangers mask and sword, box of Whitman's Sampler chocolates (haha!), Thomas the Train remote controlled train
Leelee: Thomas the Train remote controlled train, Automoblox wooden cars
Olin: Drum set, baby blanket made by Ev. I had told Ev he likes to rub fabric when going to sleep, and I think he's really going to enjoy this blanket.

We got there on Thursday after crossing the Snoqualmie Pass, which was probably as treacherous as I've ever remembered it from my college years. We were cruising along at about 5 mph for a while there and it was very snowy and slick. Luckily we made it over without too much of a problem and immediately headed over to the University Bookstore and Blue C (conveyor belt) sushi. I've found that since we've had kids, conveyor belt sushi is pretty much ideal. Immediate gratification and no waiting around - that's the ticket!

Winter Wonderland over Snoqualmie Pass. We stopped in the snow on an exit and baby LOVED the snow. Kept laughing :)

Each morning Ev, my mom and I walked the hills around her house and then made some Chinese breakfast. Usually it consisted of the green onion pancake, red bean pancake, buckwheat pancake, egg, and yogurt. Scrumptious. I am still in recovery mode from the serious onslought that my stomach took after visiting Tennessee. Even so, eating was one of the top priorities this trip and I definitely indulged. Friday we went to a lunch place called Tapioca Express per one of my mom's friend's recommendation. They had this bento lunch box in a cute little metal tin and I don't know if the metal tin swayed our opinion but it was quite delicious! As was their curry chicken, kiwi yogurt dessert, and dumplings. Then Dae watched the kids and we went over to Bellevue Square Mall to do some window shopping and try on make-up at Sephora without purchasing. hehe. We also had time to enjoy a latte and some salted caramels.

Coffee and internetting at Bell Square. Quality time spent together on our iPhones. haha!

That evening we had some champagne, got the kids suited up and went back to Bellevue Square for Snowflake Lane, which ended up being kind of a random, 20 minute presentation of drummers, music on speakers, and people walking on stilts and drummers' outfits handing out lollipops for the kids. Leelee was so disturbed by the sound he didn't even want a lollipop! That guy! Speaking of being disturbed, on Saturday Leelee woke up from his nap with the 'croup', a very strange sounding cough that Jeff accurately described as a seal cough. It did sound exactly like a seal. We were pretty concerned until Dae googled it and discovered he had the exact symptoms of croup. Leelee seriously seems to get sick, on the dot, on most all major holidays or birthdays (last Christmas he threw up, this Christmas the croup, two years ago birthday sick, last year birthday sick). He has since recovered.

Ev took this at Tapioca Express restaurant, where "Gangnam Style" was playing on the big screen and Olin was totally in a trance. Chubby hands.

Check out baby's closed eyes in that little slit under the headrest. He starts crying if he's about to fall asleep and sees me looking back to check on him, so I discovered this new genius idea. I turn on my phone camera facing toward me to see his reflection. I happened to catch his little closed eyes in that slit.

Comfort Food in Tennessee

How much fried, fatty food did we eat in Tennessee? Let me count...

1) Swett's in Nashville (we went to Nashville for a day trip! Yahoo!). According to Gwyneth Paltrow's goop website, this place is supposed to serve "meat and three" (meat and three sides) and has excellent fried chicken. Well, they now serve meat and two, but that didn't stop us from ordering a whole bunch of extra sides.

2) Fido Coffee House. Dae snapped this photo outside.

3) White Castle. Made popular by Harold and Kumar but Dae was a loyal fan long before the string of movies. We had White Castle about 1 1/2 hours after Swett's. Yikes.

4) Mike's Ice Cream Shop. Olin confirmed he knows how to use a straw when it came time to inhale a strawberry milkshake. He had no problem whatsoever. We hit up Mike's about 1 hour after White Castle. (Imagine our belts loosening up at each stop!)

5) Cracker Barrel. Dae's must-go. Site of grits, hashbrown casserole, biscuits and gravy, sausage, and other artery clogging goodies. I did order a side of yogurt parfait out of desperation for something non fried!

This is a panoramic photo from iPhone so it's a little distorted in some spots. Wanted to shine the spotlight on the breadth of food offerings we had. 

We came into town for the sole purpose of attending Dae's dad's retirement celebration in East Ridge, Tennessee. Sadly, I took very few non-food photos! I guess my priorities are pretty obvious. It was a really nice celebration with tons of delicious Korean Food. We were laughing a bit about the program...

"Installation" - like they're installing a light fixture or something - haha!

The trip started off very, very poorly. It wouldn't be a trip with Dae if he didn't forget something and either have to rush back in a mad frenzy to get it (passport in Prague) or have to purchase the item at our destination (phone charger, perhaps more than once, and boxers while in Bali). I've sent him my nicely organized packing list as encouragement that perhaps he would benefit from one but the guy does not heed my advice. So this time the item was his iPhone. We got to the Pasco airport fairly late, with only 40 minutes before the flight took off, and we checked a bag. He realized at the baggage counter that he had left his phone at home, I said there was not enough time to go back, he insisted there was, and sure enough, he didn't make it back in time and I ended up flying across the country by myself with the two kids, carrying a garment bag, backpack, my purse, baby strapped to my front, and Leelee's little toy suitcase. Misery. I think it's doable and I know people do it all the time, but I was not physically or mentally prepared. I would have seriously consolidated my items had I known it would be just me, and I would have packed every single junk food item I could find to tide the kids over on the second flight to Atlanta (we had a connection). Olin cried quite a bit on the second flight, loudly, and my neighbor asked if he was in pain. My neighbor behind me also suggested that he might need some crackers! I knew they meant well but I also could tell that they didn't have kids. My poor neighbor on the flight - he was this nice young Indian fellow who ended up pretty much babysitting Leelee while I walked with Olin at the front of the plane. He would give me a thumbs up from the back of the plane periodically when I would look back to check.

Anyway, Dae ended up getting a second flight to Seattle and a redeye to Atlanta, arriving early morning the next day.  I think I managed to avoid direct conversation with him for about 24 hours :).

As a bonus, I had been begging to go to Nashville and he was not too keen on going, but after the phone and flight snafu, he seemed a little more enthusiastic about my requests! haha. So we did go to Nashville and it was an interesting place. I wish we had been able to spend a night there and explore the music scene because there was live music from every bar downtown, but we had the kids with us so we only managed a half day of eating until we were about to explode. Below are some photos in Nashville:

The Parthenon in Nashville, just outside Vanderbilt University

Such a terrible, and funny photo. This about sums up Leelee and Olin's relationship at any given moment.

Olin Hall at Vanderbilt

Olin cruisin' and Leelee hangin'. It was a little over 70 degrees and sunny. We felt like it was summer!

We also spent our last night in Atlanta with Dae's friend Jimmy and his wife Angie. They have 3 year old twin boys and a 9 month old girl so they are quite busy. It was fun to catch up with them and the boys got to do bathtime together. It was pretty cute.

Leelee in middle, Jackson on left and Jamison on right.

Tomorrow we're driving to Seattle to spend an early Christmas with my mom and family. Yay!