Friday, February 29, 2008

here's to 99 more


A lovely morning to you all. Celebrating my 99th post with a cuppa.
Kissing Maku's pillow-creased cheek and smelling the faint sweet smell of dried up drool across his little face. Ew. Maybe sweet to me but sour to everyone else.
I haven't been posting much since the move. I somehow lost my routine and am still figuring things out in the new place. I want to paint the kitchen walls pink. Doesn't everything look yummier in pink?

I moved the children's books from their bedroom to the living room, which Snow now calls the room of knowledge. We have books of the week on display for discussion. One of last week's pick was Hansel and Gretel, we are still taking votes on who is more clever.
We spent the afternoon at the beach yesterday. It turned out to be the most interesting and memorable visit yet. I'll tell you about it later, my cuppa is getting cold.

Monday, February 25, 2008

ready to play


ready

set

goal!

he may not be a soccer star, but...

he scored that day!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

missing James and making Edward


It is called Bamboo Garden Partly (yes, Partly) - a picture by our dear friend James.
I asked Maku, who do you think lives in this thick bamboo forest, underneath the dandelion clocks? He drew me a warrior, a square-faced one with prickly hair. And what color would this warrior be? No one knows, for he can disguise himself easily.


We call him Edward. He may be a warrior but the flower on his back shows his soft side. He loves nuts and Rambo.
He was on the road for almost a week and has finally reached his new home.

Hope your new friend is treating you nice, James.

Monday, February 18, 2008

the 27 hour party



If you count licking the frosting off of a whisk as the start of the celebration then the party was much longer than that.

Day 1 :: There was fire, food and a rare picture of me...



No, no, they were not dancing the Y-M-C-A.

Most of the nighttime photos didn't come out clear so I'll move on to the next day...

That is Snow on the pink bike with no more training wheels
and that is Maku in the pink shoes trying to keep up -- which was what he did all day.

Just look at him here.

It rained and no one seemed to notice but me. My sister was back in the house preparing lunch while the children went about the business of styling their wet hair like that of George Washington. Maku tried to style his short curly hair too; keeping up with the bigger kids was hard work...

...and this little boy was so determined he didnt give up until he bled. He had cuts on his little fingers too.

Friday, February 15, 2008

orange you sweet



handmade cards and freshly picked oranges -
the sweetest gifts for the sweetest day


while washing the oranges, we noticed a 3 foot long black racer snake watching us. we watched him watch us, and he watched us watch him watching us. then he got shy and slithered away. he was quite fast, i guess that is why he is called a racer. we tried to follow him, but lost him in the bushes.

Monday, February 11, 2008

fun nails are fun


It was Jin's birthday last week. One of the presents we gave her is a nail art kit - and we've been having so much fun with it.



She had a 27 hour birthday party. Lots of eating, dancing, drawing, biking, swimming and even sewing. Nothing has made me feel older than hanging out with a group of tweens for two days.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

a happy birthday

"What's my present? If you tell me, I won't know."



early morning excitement
friends
balloons
cake licking and a pee pee accident
thank you all for your warm wishes on Maku's special day ^.^
more photos here

Saturday, February 2, 2008

inside the laundry room


So there I was, happily sewing in the laundry room, with a 4 year old pirate underneath my table, when two girls joined in. They asked me for a pair of scissors, some old shirts, sewing needles, and thread. Then, with an exotic accent, I heard one say, "Designers, today's challenge is to make a prom dress from these old shirts." I didn't pay much attention to what they were doing, there was giggling and sewing, and a mess of toys on top of the washer.
The mess was still there the following day and, concerned about misplaced needles, I took a closer look...


it was no mess...it was Project Runway! That's Nina Garcia, Michael Kors and Heidi Klum (sitting on the pin cushion) to the left. And what a great dress! I love that Jin made the stripes diagonal. And that turtle neck top!
So I told them I was impressed and they told me this:
"See, when we leave a mess, it's not a mess, it's complicated playing."
"Did you take a picture? Are you going to put it on your blog?"
"It's our playing, can we have a blog?"
So, from this conversation comes: Jinjerpop - my niece Jin's first blog.
Congratulations, Jin! I am so proud ^.^