Smarts

Tonight after dinner I told Christian I was going to eat brussel sprouts and get really smart. So we talked about being smart, and he said:

Mom, a broccoli is an ant's tree.

(OK)

See, I told you I was smarter than you!

(I know you are)

Yeah, but guess what, I'm actually not smart either. Nanny told me that.

I laughed at the fact that he said he's not smart, and that he said 'either' - insinuating that I am indeed not smart.

We've been very uncharacteristically DIY this past week.

• I sewed a couple of table runners with my new sewing machine. One of them turned out fine, and the other one looks terrible. The terrible one is currently in use on our dining room table. hehe.  
• Dae put up our dining room drapes last night. Those turned out great. 
• There is a woodpecker making his loud presence known on the side of our house and in our attic (?). Dae got a 16' ladder and various items at Ace and climbed up to our second story roof overhang. I can't believe he didn't fall down. He didn't complete what he set out to do (replace the mesh over our vent and put up these spikes so the woodpecker can't hang out there) but, as consolation, he has spent all day contemplating various ideas to get rid of them. Dae spends an amazing amount of time contemplating bird-riddance.

Following are photos of regular horseplay around here. The kids get along really well right now. They can play ALL day long. Loudly.

Portland

I spent a weekend in Portland with 3 of my friends from Dental School. We did our usual hotel stay downtown with shopping and dinners and drinks and had fun. Surprisingly, I did not go crazy on the shopping. In fact, I am proud to say I bought more for Dae (Nordstrom Rack shirts and ties) and the kids (H&M) than for myself. 

I flew in and my flight arrived early in the morning so I got to spent a good chunk of Friday with Ev. It was quite nice. We have established a bit of a pattern anytime we have a Portland kid-free day. Well I guess we've only had two, but this is what we do: Coffee, juice bar, Goodwill, Seams to Fit consignment, fun eating places. Last time we did the Whole Bowl food cart and this time we had Boxer Ramen. We also hit up Goodwill x 2: the normal Goodwill downtown as well as the fancy Goodwill downtown, which was eye-opening.  I've never seen Prada shoes at a Goodwill before! Ev scored a nice little pair of Nine West kitten heels at Goodwill #1 for just $9.99!

Dae managed the homefront and managed it well*. He 'fessed up to eating out all of breakfast, lunch and dinner (aye carumba), but the house was in decent shape when I returned, the kids were alive, and there were only 10-15 or so dishes in the sink. A success!

*Olin is now requesting "baba", whereas he was completely and totally attached to me before. 

** A funny and completely unrelated sidetone: Dae drove all the way to Sunnyside today because it's the closest DMV open on a Monday and because it was imperative, in his mind, to get a new license. He claims the urgency was for both: 1) a new photo, as well as 2) to record the change in home address, but I am pretty sure the urgency was 100% related to a new photo. He has hated his old photo ever since he got it. Anyway, he came home after his 50 mile round-trip journey, we compared the old vs. new, and they pretty much look exactly the same. :)

Can you see Ev's reflection in between the two words?

Boxer Ramen. Yummmm. Greens & sesame in the background, and some glorious tater tots in the foreground.

Dolled up.  Jessica, me, Trena, Terra. My big hair was out of control.

So I chopped it off today! Was so tired of long, straw-like hair. (Now it's just short and straw-like. haha.)

Lego Man

I love watching Leelee play with Legos. He has a great ability to piece them together. It's really impressive...this afternoon he kept coming up with so many different, and symmetrical, shapes out of the same 10 or so pieces.

"Waterskier" - it skis on water

"Bullet Train"

"Airplane that has just little wings"

"mini Train"

"Bullet blaster train - that's the fastest"

"Helicopter that looks a little bit funny with Legos"

"An eagle"

"A thing that skis on water and flies"

The Space Needle

We've done quite a few last-minute Seattle trips lately. We're talking a day-of-the-trip type decision. It's nice to have that ability and have a place to stay (my mom's). She welcomes us all the time, any time and for any length of stay!

Dae double-fisted two bouquets of $15 flowers from Pike Place Market. I get a lot of joy from these fresh flowers! Yesterday we also encountered this cool violin street musician who played the violin like a cello. Leelee deposited $5 in his violin case and the musician gave us a CD which we played on the way home.

The monorail: I'd say it was a rip-off. $11 for our family, round-trip. Round-trip involved a 5 minute ride from the Space Needle to Westlake Center.

I haven't been to the Space Needle since college, when I went to the restaurant for a revolving meal. It was nice enough. Good views. Windy. Expensive. hehe.