eclectic family on an eclectic journey

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

To my wife and daughters, Happy Mother's Day. To my mother, I miss you greatly!

So much to catch up on

2011-05-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to put some more gas in the tank and let the rubber hit the road.

And oh by the way, Yes I did!

And so it happens

2009-07-23T08:08:00.001-07:00

My baby has turned 4 today. What a beautiful day it is. While we were not there for the first 8.5 months, we are so lucky to have her in our life today.

We did our usual routine this morning but we did stop to measure everyone for height growth. We are one of those families that have a special door jam that marks the growth of our girls.

You go girl! Happy Birthday baby!

Birthday Coming

2009-07-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow our Canoodle will mark yet another revolution around the sun / calendar and turn 4. How about that. It seems so long ago, like it was light years away, that we brought her home from China, brought her to become a permanant part of our family; forever. But the reality is that it has only been 3.5 years since she has turned our world into a much better place.

Granted at times, it seems like a trial, that perhaps we did not fully anticipate what it would mean. By how could we? How could any parent know what life is going to be like when their newest addition welcomes into the family? And while it might seem like a daily uphill push, she has such a wonderful and playful personality. And to boot, she has is quite the trickster when it comes to laughing.

But here is what bothers me; her biological mom. What about her? What has become of her? Does she have this very dark day that she just tries to get through and move on with her life or does she stop and mourn the loss of her daughter? I suppose it is possible to find her. Find her only if she didn't continue to hide what happened and what the outcome was. Maybe she didn't hide? Maybe the people she knows know what happened to her baby?

Whatever the feelings she is having, I wish I could tell her, if she cared and wanted to know, that her baby is doing just fine. She is happy, healthy and thriving... and turning 4!

Birthday

2009-07-22T11:53:00.002-07:00

It is Wednesday

2009-07-15T12:55:00.001-07:00

And just the crowning drive to the weekend. Downhill from here

In need of an update

2009-01-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

Yikes in serious need of an update. Quick point thoughN. We bought a new house and moved. More to follow.

Post Election - What it is like being red trapped in a sea of blue

2008-11-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

First let me say this, I grew up in Texas and my family has been in the oil business for 3 generations. I bleed light sweet Texas crude. The USN brought me to California. Of considerable note, when you marry a girl who is 4th generation Californian, you are not moving back to Texas. Now with the darlings we have established roots. Not really going anywhere for a while but that doesn't mean I have to give up everything!

Of note as well, I am an economist by training. The very fascinating world of economics boils down to two things; pain and pleasure. To put it another way; insentive or disinsentive. But for crying out loud, California is facing yet another $10B shortfall and we haven't even moved 2 full months of an 85 day late budget to close up the previous $17B shortfall. And the irony here; Californians have successfully passed Prop 2. Given the general consensious of putting 2 people in a room and you get 2 different ideas Prop 2 people on both sides lined up supporters and opponents. And I say yeah, so what. My egg producing chicken doesn't really need all of this fanfare to do its job; does it? These chicken are not produced to become egg layers and then fryers, they are produced for their ability to lay eggs. And when they reach the end of their useful life, their services are no longer needed.

So now Title 20 of the California Health and Safety Code is regulating the fact that egg laying chickens must be able to stand up and flap their wings. My question is this, "At what cost to the tax payers?" My Republican friends in the California Assembly and Senate understand that to raise taxes means all other services have been cut to the bone and nothing else is left BUT to raise taxes. I don't think so.

To get a proposition onto a statewide ballot, 500,000 people have to sign a petition that says they will at least understand what it means to vote for the proposition. So somebody had to have heard a complaint by a chicken to take up their cause. Chickens have no opposable thumbs and speech recognition to humans to canvas for supportive petition signers. Or did some body transpose their feelings onto what they think the chicken must be feeling? In that breath am I wrong just to assume those people are stupid? That the 500,000 petition signers are also stupid. Should we provide working hours and additional comforts to the chickens and let them organize into collective bargaining? Get real, this is nothing more than another example of wasteful beauracracy.

So now we have a junior senator from Illinois going to be the 44th President of the United States. Should I did out the clips where the democratic party itself says BO is not qualified and does not understand issues from a global perspective. Granted he only has one house; purchased from a man who is going to jail for being a crook, but there is no way he is going to do what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail. His voting record in Congress does not support the fact the he has a global comprehension of the issues at hand. Did W have the same comprehention, that is questionable. Were there other people more qualified? Yes and No. Did BO sell the American public on hope? Yep, he sure did. He said it was time for change. I believe it is time for a change as well but do I believe he is the person to lead that change. No.

Live and let live. American home of the free because of the brave!

It was a true sugar high

2008-11-01T16:49:00.001-07:00

Halloween is finally over (the link takes you to the Flickr picture set) and we cannot be any more happier. Granted, I was the promoter for most of the hype and YES, I / we have had to pay for that. Last night after our sojourn around the neighborhood in search of friends, ghost and goblins, we made it home. It was here, while waiting to hand out candy to trick or treaters we reached the creshendo of sugar.

Might I also point out that I am being sorely punished again on Saturday. Today the weather is RAIN, all day RAIN. We cannot go outside, we cannot use activity of running, doing chores, being outdoors to help flush the sugar from their little bodies. No, we are stuck inside. And might I offer this one simple prayer, "Thank God for DVDs or we would be sunk!" It is not so bad, we did get out for some post-halloween shopping at our favorite store, Target. Found some great deals on clothing for the girls. Listen, fashion for these girls takes a backseat to $4 per item clothes. Fashion is saved for Land's End. (Note, Land's End is never $4 per item).

And just to show that I still have what it takes from my first adventure to college. (My first adventure to college I was the social director of a Men's Fraternity. Not necessarily a skill set you carry into gainful employment; at least not for me. But give me a bathtub and pure grain alcohol, I can have one humdinger of a punch going. Fast forward 30 years and mix in some children and the whole bathtub and alcohol gets lost on chicken dinosaurs and hot chocolate.)

This is the picture from last year's party. If you can make out, there are 38 children in the picture. What you do not see is 38 sets of parents standing behind me getting their holiday picture. But we did it, 38 smiling children all posing at one time. This year, I am in charge of the location and God knows what else. But I am looking forward to it. The date is Dec 6th from 4:30P to 7:30P, potluck style. More to come on that.

For Thanksgiving, looks like we are going over the river and through the woods to Aunt Janet and Aunt MB's house. Since it is quite a distance to drive we will be staying over a couple of nights. This time I will check the battery in my camera before we leave. And the beauty of this trip; after Thanksgiving dinner, I am going to slip into a triptophanic coma while watching the Dallas Cowboys play football and not have to worry about the girls. The reason why, Cousin Amy and Cousin Kelly will be there the first night, then Cousin Aaron will come the second night. The only downfall is we will be housing up in the mountains of Santa Cruz and will miss out on the 4A shoping extravaganza that Mom likes to do on the Friday after!

It is that time of the year

2008-10-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Granted we live in California and the high today was 83 and the low tonight is going to be 50, but they do say fall is in the air. We are quickly approaching Halloween and boy howdy are we ready for it. Last weekend we had a halloween party at the school, a princess birthday party and another halloween party put on by our local FCC chapter. All in all, everyone was pretty well worn out by the end of the weekend.

Here is a link to our pictures... for last weekend. Hoping this weekend can be more relaxing.

This is what happens when you don't brush your teeth... scary little girls, yes be very afraid!

Oct 22 Catch Up _ _ _ again

2008-10-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin, we have been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to take many pictures at all. I think of each has been doing several things all at one time. Mom was on jury duty for 5 weeks. I have been busy painting the house, studying for a promotional exam and studying for the GRE to get back into Grad school. So much to do, so little time.

This is me painting the house. As you can see, I had to rent scaffolding to reach the gables. Once there the wood was in bad shape so I had to sand it down as well as the fascha board. After sanding, one coat of primer and two top coats. This is the side of the house that gets a southern exposure so it gets beaten in the sun pretty hard.

Did you ever see a pink bunny look so darn cute. Big thanks again to Uncle Tom and Pat for the best towels a girl could want coming out of the bath!

Yes it is that time of the year. Halloween. The girls have been wearing their costumes on a regular basis. Pretty darn cute again. This year we have a unicorn and Snow White. What more could you ask for?

An economic point of view

2008-10-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

From a social standpoint the government was very appreciative of Wall Street to take the risk in ultra risky or low interest loans to people who were marginally able to afford them, if at all. The game/goal was to get more people into a home and thus encouraged home ownership. This raises local property taxes for the community and stimulates the local economy as people need stuff to put in there home. Everyone wins and the Banks take all the risk. But on the flip side, they get all of the rewards too. Government turns a blind eye to risky investments.

Now that the money to be made has been squeezed out of the market by the early innovators of the sub prime industry, banks and brokerage house are now left with toxic assets. They have sold off all of the good loans and / or stripped off the good pieces (STRPs and DRIPs) and sold them. What is left over is to service the crap items that were not easily sold. So the banks bought insurance designed to insulate them from loss. Again, the government avoids the risk and it appears Wall Street is taking care of its own.

It is my premise that this didn't happen overnight. Oversight has been lax to the point that there are grave problems on Wall Street. But the bankers and brokers are gaming the system by pricing in the intended bail out. Local communities allowed expansion into areas that didn’t necessarily warrant the location of safe and affordable neighborhoods. For example, The Natomas Area which backs up on the river; Sacramento city decided that Yolo County could grow tomatoes and corn and Sacramento could expand its property tax base by allowing new homes to be built. They could pass on the cost of fire protection by mandating fire sprinklers in new housing and condo buildings and don’t have to build as many fire houses. They could encourage the builder to offer the instillation of burglar alarms and motion detecting lights to pass on the cost of Policing if the neighborhood’s perception was of safety due to their own expense of paying for the lights and alarms.

The bottleneck now is in the ultra-short term commercial paper market. No one is lending their extra cash at the moment or if they are, it comes at a premium. Again, the price of risk is added into the loan moving the Libor rate from 2% to almost 5%. At the moment no one is willing to take those terms. Everyone is waiting; waiting on the bail out to inject money back into the system. If they can sell their toxic assets they can then start loaning instead of protecting their positions by holding cash and meeting their cash reserves for the fed reserve requirements. The American way, use credit extensions to pay for everything and hope it all doesn't come apart i.e., Bush's comments on the proverbial house of cards. I foresee an increase in prices as the cost of higher credit is passed along.

If Wall Street has toxic assets for sale, they can sell them today. Basic economics on supply and demand state that if the price is right a market will be made. There is someone out there willing to take the risk and buy these assets at 10 cents on the dollar. However, the banks and brokerage houses think the bailout will allow them to price them at 30 - 40 cents (or higher) on the dollar to the Feds.

The Feds are not shrewd enough and do not have incentive to force these securities to the rock bottom. Those folks who are shrewd enough all work on Wall Street and got themselves into this pickle. They are shrewd enough to figure out how to mitigate their losses by holding out until the Feds throw money at the problem. There is conversation that if the Feds pay too little, they will not do enough to get cash infused and liquidity going. But you are have to look at the definition of enough; how much is too enough? From Wall Streets perspective they want it all gone and from Main Streets perspective, they want to rock bottom price be/c they are going to garner the risk and as such should be entitled to the reward if a profit is going to be turned. And who wouldn’t want to dump all of their mistakes and have someone pick it up and make it all better? Wouldn’t a rescue of Wall Street keep the economy at an artificially high perspective and encourage growth based upon a poor foundation?

How about putting those securities up to auction? Let the market bid on them from the standpoint of a Dutch auction. We will find out the true value of what the market is willing to pay. Set up a system so that it is not direct Fed money being used. Perhaps a tax credit mechanism spread out over several years with no carry forwards allowed. Another would be a break on capital gains as they apply to auction bought securities. There is a supposed $2T held by baby boomers, what about the transfer of wealth via inheritance now thus providing a different mechanism to stimulate the economy. For example, no tax consequences on the purchase of a home or business by a parent and given to a child.

This is America for crying out loud. 335M people are not going to sit around and let the ball of string come unwound around them. If you can one thing, we are innovative and adaptive. Here it is Oct 1. Payday has passed for many businesses and no one really faltered that I heard. Mom and Pop shops and perhaps some medium companies might have problems in the short term but these things will work themselves out. Credit markets in general are going to knee jerk react into ultra tight requirements and overall the economy will be in a slow down for a time being. But as with all things, this too will pass. In ‘78 – ‘82 the sky didn’t fall. One of the problems with the situation today, economic doom sells newspapers and air time and gets people to watch. Those people who do not understand the entire picture could be easily swayed into an ill-informed thought process and thus decision.

I believe this is what Wall Street wants the public to think. One of the ways to make money as a day trader is to buy a stock, hype it up on several blogs so the price goes up as other people buy in and then sell out. What does anyone care that you made your incremental profit and everyone else can figure it out. Wall Street is hyping up the need for the bail out and then is going to leave the American public holding the bag.

I say do nothing and do not approve the bail out. Let those who made this problem sit in their stench for a while until they figure out how to get themselves out of it. There are banks buying banks today at fire sale prices. It makes for a bad cycle to break in the future if everyone thinks there is a governmental safety net behind every faulty scheme. Buckle down and let the market do its own thing. The government can take a smaller portion of $700B to clean up the mess that Wall Street creates as it rights itself over time. Those banks should be rewarded for having the reserves to be able to let someone eat all the risk and buy up the most valuable assets of a company that are still producing.

Pull back our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and use the war funding to increase our activity in NATO. Spend the same amount of money to protect our own borders and increase spending on education in the US. There is a cost line between pro-active and reactive. I believe we have surpassed that line and a better return on the dollar would be to be protective and reactive than pro-active. (Pro-active in terms of spending money in Afghanistan and Iraq and reactive meaning retaliation in the event of an attack or disruption). You have a better chance of dying by a drunk driver each year then all 6 years of the Iraqi war. Dare I say “Isolationism” but perhaps that is a pretty good view these days.

There makes a good argument for rolling up on your own 50 – 60 acres of land and be a sustenance farmer / rancher. I for one, is someone who doesn’t need potato chips and pop tarts in my life. (Internet is almost a basic necessity these days but television not so much except for the girls). If it were not for comparative advantage to earn a greater yield via a coop arrangement or learning of a greater need for a particular crop; i.e., Ricardian Marginal Land Use theory and corn for ethanol then we wouldn’t need much outside involvement.

Catching Up, July 21 - Lots of news

2008-07-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Our baby has turned 3. Well, not technically to the day, we just had her party early to fit into everyone's schedule. We had family traveling from Houston, Tx. Big hat tip to my dad making it out to see us again and being here.

We had a great time. It was probably one of the best parties that we have thrown. We kept is small and just family came this time. In soon enough time we are going to have a couple dozen little children running around, but this time it was just family. We changed up our menu and it was a big hit as well. CaNoodle got a hopscotch set from grandma and grandpa. And we finally did it. Not that it was what we wanted it was just the direction that the girls were going. Yes, that is right, we did bought them Hannah Montana sleep shirts. We had to threaten to put them in the washing machine with the shirts on, just so we can get them clean to wear.

Here are some pictures from our party. Do not forget to come back and see the rest of the story.

To get ready for the birthday, Miss Maryann sent ahead some birthday dresses. The girls got two matching dresses. I learned that the yellow one is better than the green ones. When you twirl in the yellow dress, they flair at the bottom and that... my friend, is the key to a good dress. Or at least that is the key in my house to a good dress.

To see the yellow dresses click here! Please come back though.

Next picture set has to do with the new gloves and daddy playing with his new camera. We were trying to capture flying hair and flinging water. I wasn't fast enough be/c I couldn't get Noodle to "flip" in the same location. And she wouldn't flip at the same height.

CaNoodle got some new leather gloves and was very excited to help momma trim the roses and pick up the pieces. As you can see, she is able to also work in her pajamas. And of note, these pictures are before her birthday. How do we know this, Hannah Montana sleep shirt! And who cannot resist just goofing around with a couple of goofy kids in a swimming pool. Click here for more pictures.

And last but not least in our update, 4th of July. We did all of the necessary things; went to our local parade. We sat on the curb to get some good parade candy. We saw clowns, Shriners in motor cars, dancing tractors. It was a great deal of fun. We also bought the girls some new goggles for the swimming pool. Poor Noodle got her ear twisted but didn't care be/c she just liked wearing the goggles and playing in the swimming pool.

That is about all we have been doing. Mom and Dad have been working and saving money. We are having fun each night with the girls. We limit the amount of TV and get the girls out into the backyard to play. We have to be careful because of the fires that have been around and the smoke that lingers in the air. It has been pretty bad some days with the AQI up around 200; I think that is maybe, twice the level for good air. Pretty bad stuff. We are fortunate in that we are not in a fire zone and we feel and pray for those people who have a different set of circumstances and decisions to make in these struggling time.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a long one, I think, so relax and enjoy the ride, and boy howdy, what a ride it has been.

We started out on Friday, July 4th down at our local parade. The Internet annoucement said 10A start. We arrived at 930A to get a good spot where we could see it all and stratgically placed so the bands were not in between songs between viewing areas. Dammit, we want music! The parade didn't start until 10:45 and it was closer to 11A when it reached us. Keeping these two active, out of trouble and out of boredom was quite the chore. But we managed. The parade, it was pretty good. Worth the wait? well we waited and it was ok.

We got home much later than we anticipated and cancelled our birthday party for one of the girl's friends from school. We were all wiped out from the sun and the excitement not to mention the dying sugar high that was they were coming off of. We all ended up taking a nap until very late in the afternoon. We had some dinner and wanted to go see our local community firework display but it didn't work out. We ended up staying home.

Don't get me wrong, when I say I want to buy fireworks for the girls, it is for the girls. Why them, because when I was growing up we had them. My dad had them when he was growing up. Apparently, HE was the importer into his small town and had them delivered by the cases to sell to his friends.

Sometimes things do work out

2008-06-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are rounding the corner on another weekend and gettin ready to ramp up for a Monday. Yeah, jumping feet first into the rat race; a necessary evil since we like living and eating indoors. Besides, the project list just took a big addition. HOUSE PAINT.

But I want to take a minute and pat myself on the back. Yesterday the girls and I went to the local farmer's market and bought some lingonberries. Mom really likes them and they have a unique taste to them. Mom has to work both days this week be/c her boss is a butt and went on vacation and left her with the problems. She is not someone to let them sit, so we are being supportive. This morning I got up while everyone slept and made a Lingonberry compote and for her breakfast, spooned it over a warm crousaunt. And it came out just like i envisioned. Now I have to write down my recipe and try it again. I wonder what blueberries would be like.

Oh well, back to reality after a moment's bask in the sun of accomplishment.

Swimming in the hot summer days

2008-06-22T18:36:00.001-07:00

Not that CaNoodle was left out but how could you not post a picture of the bathingest beauty of the all.

Congrats to Uncle Tom to receiving his AARP card and to Cousin Amy for graduating college.

More pictures if you follow the link in swimming pool set.

Swimming Pool Set

Memorial Day at the Cabin - and Ghost??

2008-05-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

We had such high hopes; honestly. We left home in the rain on Saturday morning and thought that it would be ok by the time we got there. NOPE. It rained all day Saturday and most of Saturday night stopping on Sunday morning. We did see a peak of the sun and a few shadows but other than that, rain and dark cloudy. Did I mention the cold? Never got above 48 degrees and at times, when it was sleeting, it was 36 degrees. Just last week Uncle Jim and family were at the cabin and nearly baked to death. Who believes weather reports anyway. We didn't pack enough socks for the girls so we had to dry them out all the time. I don't think the fireplace ever went cold.

What you see at the top is the clouds that rolled in and started snowing again. This was taken at Clark Fork trail, Stanislaus National Park.

And not that I would put any bad joo-joo on the cabin, but... If you look at the pictures all taken with no flash and open lens, you can see a green object. At first I was getting frustrated because it was in each of the pictures taken without a flash. Could it be??? I have more pictures here so check them out. The last pictures in the series are some test shots with one of my new lens and how to focus better.

Better luck next year to Danica. We were cheering for you.

Catching Up - May 20th

2008-05-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

What a whirlwind month it has been. Not sure which way is up or down sometimes. To get it out of the way; here are the pictures. I was sick for 4 weeks total. Ended up missing 4 days of work and it was not any fun. Ended up with a rescue inhaler. When I got to thinking about I wondered, bronco-dialator, meaning, I can't breath. Wait, I am not ready to kick the big bucket of life. (If I seem a bit dramatic for this it is because 1) I am not a good patient and 2) I hate being sick and I seldom am!) Lucky for us the girls didn't get it but Mom has got something pretty close and she is fighting it pretty hard.

Been playing around with my new camera lens. I received a fisheye macro lens. Not exactly what I wanted but it is fun to goof around with. I need to save my pennies; HA HA, like anyone with kids will tell you, we don't have any money. And I have already used the line with my wife to say, "wouldn't you want to preserve every moment of their life"? She bought it the first time so for the time being I will have to make do. I like the shadowing effect on this picture to give her that Fred Flintstone shave line.

My dad came to town for a visit. The girls just went nuts that Grandpa was here. The discover and repeated about 12,000 times that they have 3 grandpas and only 1 grandma. He was invited to do everything that they were doing; swing, color and play ladybugs. Although he wasn't necessarily interested in handling snails with them, he was a trooper and watched The Barbie Nutcracker movie.

On Saturday we made it down to Berkeley to fly kites with some of our friends whose daughters are also from Yiyang SWI. Now you would think we would know better; having both lived in the Bay Area. Mom moreso than dad be/c she grew up in the Bay. Right down the street from where we were flying kites. When we left home it was getting to be 100 degrees. We tell ourselves it is supposed to be warm in the Bay Area. We left our sweaters at home. Guess what, it wasn't. Athough it was a beautiful day, it was also 65 degrees and the wind was blowing about 15 - 20 mph. And we froze our buttinski's off. Here is everyone wrapped in the ground blanket we brought to sit on. (Again, more pictures here!)We did get our picture for our calendar and we did meet some really great friends that we have not met before. Looking forward to doing it again.

Afterwards, we made our way over to Aunt K's house for a late birthday party. In this lot of family, if you are over 4' tall, your birthday comes celebrated in chunks with others. It worked out ok. Sunday we just played around the house and tried to relax from our busy day on Saturday. And Grandpa had to go home as well.

PS: on the way home from work today, guess what I could have used? Another 3 feet!

And that is why we have insurance!

What has been going on

2008-04-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

To put it bluntly, NOTHING.

Maybe not nothing in the real term of nothing, but it has been upside down for a while around here. The picture is of the disposal feature in the dishwasher. Any food that were to be left on and washed off the plate would be cut up so it didn't clog anything. While it is a neat feature of Kenmore, it does not wipe the screen as it goes around. Once the screen is clogged, well things stop spraying and nothing gets clean in the dishwasher. $170 later we have a new screen and disposal grinder on the intake side of our dishwasher pump. (I was hoping for some new camera toys instead)

Quarentien that is also the new word of the day. For several weeks now I have been really sick. A linger cold that wouldn't go away. I kept up with the medicine and when it said symptons not going away after 7 days, see a doctor. I did. That landed me three days at home with nothing to do. No chores, no work on my race track.. nothing. Oh well, it could be worse.

I did receive my macro filters last weekend. Check them out.

New Camera and Lens

2008-04-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

So I am learning how to use my Nikon and my new lens I bought off of eBay.
I think you will enjoy it too.

LadyBug day at school

2008-04-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

The girl's school had a celebration of child week culminating with a Lady Bug release and open house. Everyone had fun, no one ate and in the end we got tired and crankie. But what the hey... that is the joy of kids.

Follow the link and see how much I really enjoy my new camera. I even took some good shots to capture the light and shadows in the right way. Used my new 55 - 200mm lens

Catching up again

2008-04-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

You can skip the story and go straight to the pictures.

What a wonderful weekend we have had. First the weather was absolutely fabulous and the girls were really fun to be with. They played together, got in trouble together and generally were in great spirits. Hat tip to grandma for taking them on Thursday night. Although we were headed to a party, The Mom got sick and so she just stayed at home and relaxed. I also have started work on "Operation Chemical Green". It is my goal to fix up the landscaping and have the front of the house look nice. Curb appeal if you will.

I got a new lens for my camera. Sigma 30mm for Nikon. Sweet! Just learning to use it and how to play with the focus features.

Telephoto lens is excellent as well; really enjoying the expansion of what it brings.

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We have been so busy and our lives so hectic that we (mom and dad) postponed our celebration for another time. (OK, when Grandma has another free night!) The girls and I did a cake and balloons and flowers for mom so she would know she was special. It is hard to imagine, 2 years ago we were in Changsha, China eating pizza and waiting to board a plane to GZ but that is another story.

PS: I also recycled a tomato cage to make a clothes pin basket to hang on the clothes line. I like the warm weather be/c I can hang the clothes out on the line. They smell so nice and have that homely feel to them. Little extra work but I enjoy it.

Easter

2008-03-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in getting these up. But here's some for the Easter Bunny!

Easing back to normal

2008-03-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of easing back into a normal life with now. We first have a bunny who is very cute. Melt your heart cute. Followed by CaNoodle making a REALLY mean face and trying not to laugh at the same time. And to wrap it up, watermelon for snacks.

Click the picture to go to flickr.

Marking Time

2008-03-16T22:01:00.001-07:00

There are so many to choose from and its hard to know which to include. My baby is now a Princess and has just turned 4. Life must be gravy from this point forward that we have survivied the terrible twos and threes. Photo fun of the journey.

Family is what makes it all possible.

The Big Party - The Noodle Turns 4

2008-03-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

To put a wrap up on it all.

Thursday we took a few pictures and then we had to get them loaded for Grandma' benefit. Wish we could had more time but it was nice to have the family here. Mom and I got a few gifts for the girls. They had been doing ok. I think part of the problem was the build up to the entire event. Being a big kid myself, I just egged it on until we were completely saturated with the birthday. (See Target Story) As everyone knows, with little ones, you can't just have a birthday party for one, it is more of a family thing. So we got everyone a new dress. Cindarella and Snow White. We took a few pictures and had cup cakes. Remember, this is Thursday night and we still have to go to school in the morning.

Friday the girls headed off to the dentist but no one really wants to know about that. They did ok and our dental score was pretty good.

Saturday, now, here is the good stuff. Party at 3P and friends and family were pretty much on time. We had a wonderful time. The weather held enough we could be outside with jackets on. OC and Miss A joined us. Aunts J and MB brought MB's nephews. That worked out ok. They were good kids. Grandma and Grandpa came with Boy Wonder and James. Soccer joined when she got off of work. Uncle J, Aunt V, Cousin A and Baby C came up from San Francisco. They stopped at the train museum and had a look around first.

All the little girls had their Princess Dresses on. At times like these, there are wardrobes of Princess Dresses. OC was in all 3 of hers. Although my goal in 2008 was the change up the menu, we stayed with the tried and true; burgers and brats. Grandma made the cake. How fortunate are we with a Grandma of talent. And then it was time for presents. Did I mention there lots of people who came. As you can see from the cake picture our theme was along the line of Princess, Ariel and Mariposa Barbie. She also got some really neat books from Jamie who is headed of tomorrow to start flight attendant school on Monday. Go James!

We had several helpers to open presents. Everyone had a good time. Mom had it the roughest in that she had to keep Noodle from opening one and then going to the next without even looking at it. In the end, Barbie Mariposa did arrive.

They both slept pretty soundly and Sunday, it didn't take long for them to fall over and take a nap again. Mom had to go to work, gee what am I to do. Well laundry and the taxes if you really want to know.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME. AND THOSE WHO COULDN'T MAKE IT, WE HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

Birthday Party Picture Extravaganza

Birthday Pic

2008-03-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Birthday Pics are here. At least the first group!

Inventions

2008-03-12T21:25:00.001-07:00

While bopping around the Internet I ran across this site with wonderful advice about children. The best I have found so far... Inventions for Babies. I nearly peed myself laughing so hard.

I have been remiss

2008-03-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

It has been very hectic as of late. I don't know why, we are not doing anything that we normally aren't doing. I mean the taxes are still pending, we have NO to a girl scout we have too many cookies as is. There are a few things that keep happening on a regular basis that consume time. I guess maybe getting back on track from last weekend took a day or so.

For what it's worth, Mom does a pretty good job with a pair of scissors!

Until I get caught up, this is enough for now.

PS: big thanks to grandma for the couple of hours of baby sitting she did. The girls really miss you when we come home.

Rainy Sunday - a week later

2008-02-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

Playing a little catch up on the blog. Here is a picture set I call the Dairy Queens . For some reason everyone had been on their best behavior. About this time of the year I think about my mother and all the things that we used to do. One of her favorite things to do was to go to Dairy Queen from time to time. Although, it was usually in the summer I decided that I wanted to relive a bit of the nostalga that my mom shared with my brother and me.

Last weekend we went down for Grandpa's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and the girls, now that they are getting older, are more adventuresome and more outgoing at family event. It was a tough haul in the rain both ways but we did what we could to be safe. As the dad I took extra precautions short of not going because of weather. (Also in this set you will notice my helpers for making cookies. They were great help until I turned my back and busted them for eating the dough off the spoon. Or in CaNoodle's case, licking it off the side of the bowl.)

Now that Grandpa has had his birthday Noodle is very aware of the fact that her birthday comes next. Daily and at times, several times during the day, she will give us an idea of what she wants for her birthday. I don't know where we are going to store all of the little ponies that she wants.Here is our Oldest and next-to-Youngest. Age range 83 - 2.5

Presidents Day Blues

2008-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

We have the good fortune to be trading fevers around the house today. Yesterday, Noodle was down for the count. Although CaNoodle had rosey cheeks she didn't seem to be slowing down. We went running around to give mom and Noodle some space and be quiet. But when I got home with CaNoodle, she was hot. Took her temperature and she was 101.7. Noodle, she was 102.4. Yeah! Later that night, after a trip to the store for more Children's Motrin and some Children's Tylonol we got the fevers in check enough for everyone to sleep... sort of.

This morning Noodle's fever was down to 99.7 and CaNoodle was 102.4. Starting a new regimine of meds and hope that all will be ok. We ended up calling the doctor in the middle of the night and he returned our call with some ideas. OK, so this morning, they drank their juice, they ate a pile of pancakes and are now up to their elbows in play-doh. Hard to imagine they are also sitting there with fevers.

Just keep telling yourself, one day at a time, one day at a time....

PS: The girls did get to go with Grandma and Soccer to Princess on Ice. Big thanks for that fun day!

Piggy Tails and Valentines

2008-02-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Been somewhat smooth sailing around these parts as of late. Last weekend I took the girls out to Sacto's Chinese New Year. It was great and we all had lots of fun. We took in an entire show and everyone was impressed with the Dragon / Lion Dance. The girls could have lived without the drums but they were very cute watching wide-eyed with their fingers in their ears. This is the picture with our new friend, Kai-Lan and her new TV show on Nick Jr. Sunday was Piggy-Tail day. That and the fact it was 71 degrees in the back yard we were all outside.

Don't know about Valentines for the Mom and Dad. The girls are going to grandma's house on Thursday. On Friday, they are going to Disney on Ice to see "The Princess' Show". I would like to go be/c I do love watching my children's face light up with surprise and joy at something they want to watch. But, there does need to be some Grandma time. I remember my grandma taking me to the picture show in small town Oklahoma. She wore a Pill Hat and I thought it looked odd. We saw 101 Dalmations and then the start of Swiss Family Robinson but it scared my little brother so much that we had to leave. That was 35 years ago and I remember it like it was last week. And, the girls are going to stay a second night with grandma. While I think that is great and will enjoy the quiet with Mom, I am not venturing too far away in the event that grandma gets worn down by the two "darlings". If she has reinforcements in line, then she will probably be OK. But come Saturday night after they leave, I am guessing a couple of beers and grandma won't make it past 8P!

Been thinking a good deal about the time frame of 4 years ago. That is very personal and probably won't make the blog.

Proof that she does actually sleep sometime. And that is the black puppy that she plays with sometimes. And that makes one of the brief angelic moments!
Flickr Set

Sunday Morn

2008-02-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

Lots has been going on lately. We all have been very busy with life. Seldom do we have much free time. As always Dad is working on some sort of school project. We had our phone line go out be/c of all the rain and when the phone line is out, the DSL is out. More on that later. We turned the milestone corner of 4 year anniversay on our meeting with Soccer and her family. We wrapped up Mardis Gras.Yes the girls scored beads and NO, not like the regular way that most people think about. Although CaNoodle has learned to take her own clothes off and that is causing a bit of a problem when it is at an inappropriate time.

Ash Wednesday came and now Lent is upon us. Jokingly, I wonder if I could give up DSL for 40 days. Nope.

Chinese New Year has come. We ventured down to CSUS for the 11th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration. That was pretty neat. We did get to see the Lion Dance. That was fun; loud but fun.

More to follow. Click here for this weeks adventure in pictures.

Kids say the darndest things...

2008-02-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

Noodle will be rounding the corner on 4 years in several months. However, she is getting to be rather vocal about her observations in life. On Saturday morning, don't ask how it happened be/c I don't know myself, we ended up with everyone in the Mom's and Dad's bed. At the moment, we can all fit; however, Noodle stated that someone is touching her and waking her up.

Let's review. She is in our bed. CaNoodle likes to get in our bed. It was 4:45A in the morning. They had been there since 4:15A It just went downhill from there.

This morning, Noodle jumped in the bed and snuggled up to the mom. Pretty normal. But when I leaned over to give her a kiss, she pushed me away and annouced, "Someone stinks and it is making me cough!" I did brush my teeth last night.

So I did what I normally do, got up and made hot milk for the girls and coffee for the mom!

It was a dark and stormy night....

2008-01-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

(Insert evil laugh here) It's Sunday and it's raining AGAIN. I guess this is what it is like to live in Seattle or Portland. Whatever is going on, I am getting tired of it. Send in the SUN!

Let's just talk about the Mom tonight. You can always click the link to go to the flicker sets.

CaNoodle helped me take the picture while she was drying everyone's hair. Look how wonderful she is.

Life is chugging along. I have been working full time now. Everyone is settling into a routine nicely. I feel like a cowboy in the morning and maybe that is a continuation of my days growing up in the Great State of Texas. By the time I wrestle 3 girls out of the bed, only 1 is a morning person. (CaNoodle; let me go on record, we should change her name to disproportionate. She makes a disproportionate amount of noise and activity for someone her size and age.) Mom drops off in the moring and I pick up in the afternoon. Juggle some time at the gym, some more homework from my on-line classes and presto it makes for long days and tired at night. But all in all, we are well.

NOT even going to drag my soapbox out about the economy and what has happened for the last 10 days. Boy howdy, hang on, I don't think that was the last big hill on the roller coaster ride. We just changed our short term goals, accelerated and pushed out some of our time lines.

Recap of the Flickr photos if you make it that far. Noodle has a big girl bed now. Hair washing is getting easier but sometimes it still takes a lot. Drying is much more fun than washing and everyone is sleeping in their own bed for now. We went through a period of musical beds sometimes twice in the night. Never quite knew where I was going to wake and exactly who was in the bed with me. That made for some restless nights and tired days.
Tip of the hat to Grandma, Grandpa, Soccer and Boy Soccer for Christmas gifts this year. Boy Soccer got the girls board games. CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders. With all of the rain big hit to stay in doors and play games. Rules are peculiar and not at all like (scroll down for the explination of the rules.) I remember but what do I know? And to Grandma and Soccer, the horses are still being ridden all the time. They are not allowed to eat at the table but that doesn't stop the cow girls from sneaking them bites. They are not allowed to be on the table so they are tied to the chairs in waiting. Big Kuddos on that. However, if you think giving them a tamborine would be even funnier... think again!

Mickey Mouse and Fishing

2008-01-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

CaNoodle has found her pair of Mickey Mouse ears. These are from Halloween but she was not very intuned with it. Now, we can barely get them off of her.

Mom and one her favorite little girls.

Hook, line and sinker.... Land's End has found a fish in our family. Somehow, they have figured out that our girls are spoiled and their Mom likes for them to look and dress nicely on the way out the door each and every day. Looks like one of us will be taking on a second job just to pay for the cuteness that will wrap these "darlings" this spring and summer. They got us good!

I have been looking at my pictures again. Although I have recently and dearly love my new Nikon D40 camera, I can't seem to fix the flash effects that shadow everything. If you look at the top picture it looks like the ears are twice their normal size. Somehow I need to rig the house with auto flash that are wirelessly controlled. Yeah, that is not going to happen.

Birthdays - Candy Land and a new bed

2008-01-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

To catch everyone up, we have been extremely busy these last few weeks. But Noodle has not forgot that after grandpa's birthday she will be 4 fingers old. Wow, my baby 4 years old. It seems like yesterday I was cutting her cord in the hospital. We were walking down the hallway, lost in the very surreal fog of what was happening realizing that we were indeed parents. So I put together a quick reference for everyone starting with Day 0 in her birthday suit. The first picture is when she is probably 60 seconds old. That's right, 60 seconds!
This is our first year birthday. Uncle Jim, Aunt Virgina and Cousin A had given us the swing so we put it up in anticipation of warm weather and this picture taken waiting for everyone.
Birthday No. 2 Just getting older and cuter by the minute! Really learned about Cake by now.
Birthday No. 3. I was never very wild about cutting her hair but I also didn't like the Dolly Parton look when we blew dry it. But here we are fingers first into the cake.
No. 4. Coming around the corner. My baby is going to be 4. It just seems so shocking, so much like an entire lifetime; that nothing mattered before Noodle was born. We have our good days and our not so good days but most of all, it is hard for her to maintain the fasade of being a spoiled brat all the time. Although, I have heard told that what has done is wrapped daddy around her finger and that does not constitute spoiled bratness! Call it what you want but we wouldn't trade her for anything.

Candy Land. Let me first start by explaining the rules and you will understand why it is so hard for me to win or even get close. Upon getting the game out and setting it up, Noodle determines who is going to win; her, and who is going to come in second winner, CaNoodle and the rest is just the remaining field. Next she determines which specialty card she is going to get and what space she wants to jump too. These specialty cards are divided up between CaNoodle to a lesser degree. Finally, it comes time to pick a card and move. Noodle does all of the moving and seems to be her turn all the time. IF, and a big IF on that, you happen to draw one of the predetermined cards that she is going to draw, you must immediately trade with her and you lose your turn. At the end of the game, she is the winner by a landslide. One day... one day I will win!

Heading off this weekend to get Noodle a new bed. Although, she did like the pink bed at Pottery Barn for Kids, she does not have a job to be able to afford the price tag. No worries, because we think grandpa has a bed we can inherit. Have to check with Aunt Janet and Karen to see if they want them since they were their beds, but pretty safe we are going to end up with one maybe, two this weekend. Little sandpaper, a color agreement and a new mattress set and I think we will have a furniture moving party this weekend. Cross your fingers

With the new bed, it might prompt CaNoodle who will inherit the Sticker bed, aka Toddler Bed from big sister. Complete with stickers half peeled off and I noticed tonight some form of band aid stuck to it. CaNoodle has decided that she doesn't like sleep in the crib anymore. We have even taken it down. Not to worry, she doesn't mind getting up in the middle of the night and sleeping coming to bed with mom and dad. We figured that mom and dad have not slept the entire night since Dec. 28th.

Kids, they don't come with an instruction manual or a recipe book; what are you to do?

Fresh New Year

2008-01-09T21:23:00.001-08:00

We have turned the corner, taken down the tree and settled back into reality. The girls are back on their regular routine of going to school and banjo practice. I say banjo practice be/c each in their unique way can strum our last nerve like a banjo player. At times I swear you can hear "Dueling Banjo's" playing in our home.

Not that we have a new dance machine but the girls get their fair share of burn off excess energy at school dancing. We have incorporated that in our home because of the recent rains. Helps to keep the sanity around here and brings forth giggles.

If you look close enough at CaNoodle you will see where she got ahold of a yellow highlighter and was working on her mouth and teeth with it! Point of notice; Noodle has enjoyed playing dress up at her school. They have lot of old clothes they let the kids put on. Mom had this old dress that she never wore and it was on its way to Goodwill but Noodle wanted. After being lectured that we NEVER cut our clothes (Guess that is a rule at her school) with scissors. we custom fit it to her. It is pretty much a nightly fashion statement to put it on. At least now it fits.

My mother is probably rolling over in her grave now. One of the things that was well versed in me was before Christmas day was over, thank you cards had to be written before you went to bed. If not, then all of the toys that were not properly thanked where gone the next day. I didn't get much for Christmas this year be/c in all honesty, its about the girls. I can use the excuse that they can't write very well but in reality, I need to get that cleared up. So to everyone who sent something, Thanks and your card is in the mail.

ps: I am loving my new job!

Not much to do as we turn the year

2008-01-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

I hate USC and they are playing in the Rose Bowl. So I am goofing around while the mom plays with her new toy and the kids are napping. Lazy day but one worth the rest.

Happy New Year to all.

Action shot of mom making a bobbin. Before anyone gets all bent about mom wanting a sewing machine; it is something that she asked for!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-29T08:11:00.001-08:00

Where does it all begin. If you agree that Christmas is about children then we hit that mark on the nose. We had Christmas first at our house. Santa stopped by here twice. Once on Christmas Eve earlier in the evening and then again after everyone went to bed. We told the girls that Santa had packed his sleigh wrong and that their big gift must have been toward the back but the good thing was Santa didn't forget about them. They each received an identical dolly and stroller; complete with milk and juice bottles. Noodle posing in her new robe the next morning.

And then it was off to Cousin A's house. He got a new sister earlier in the year and it was nice to have her up and joining the family. We had a wonderful time. The family was there and the girls got to see everyone. And of course, the spoiling aunts were there and keeping with tradition; lots of loot to be had! And for our journey home, we got to model our pajamas for our older Cousins K and A!

We had to wind down the end of the week. Daddy had to go back to work and mom and the girls stayed home on Wednesday. Reality finally sets back in as they return to school. We are trying to ease them back into our normal routine.

Thursday night, we traveled to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Soccer, Boy Soccer and James were there as well. Apparently, according to Grandma, Santa left presents for Noodle and CaNoodle there. As you can see, Grandma knows a thing or two about little girls and Christmas. It appears that she has been going to Grandma school and is passing all of her classes in spoiling. All in all, it was a very nice Holiday season for us. We had Thanksgiving with our family in Texas and Christmas with our families in California. The girls got lots of attention to reinforce just how special they are to everyone in their lives. Spoiled, yes a little spoiled but mostly, they already know that. And when it comes right down to is, so are everyone in the life of Noodle and CaNoodle who have the opportunity to be around such wonderful life expressed by two pretty darn cute little girls.

TAG for all of the pictures in our Christmas series.

And to A and OC.... good friends make all the difference

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Our prayers to those who stand in harms way and are away from their families.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We tried on our backpak yesterday to make sure someone still fit in it and low and behold, why yes someone does.

In front of the tree before the mayhem starts.

Merry Christmas all

The Monkeys have escaped; RUN

2007-12-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

Finally, we are getting to spending some family time again. The dad has started a new job as a program analyst, mom is not working as many overtime hours. Not quite there to have the house completely decorated for Christmas but it's a start.

Yesterday we went to the Folsom Zoo. Click here for pictures. Had a great time. It was cold but everyone wore their new hats and gloves. We spent the majority of our time running from one exhibit to the next. With the weather being cold, most people stayed away. At one point we might have had the place to ourselves. Please note the darn cute hats and gloves. Although the gloves were too big for both of them, they were a big hit. CaNoodle doesn't have the finger length to fill her gloves but she wore them anyway with the fingers just flopping around. Most of the remaining time was spent chasing the chickens and peacocks that walk around. Not that anyone was in any danger of actually being caught, it was good fun and exercise for everyone. Both girls ended up with rosy cheeks and laughing and when we got home, took a nap!
We have been having some competitive issues recently between the girls so we ran an experiement. Mom and Noodle stayed home and did girly things. They took a bath, washed hair, watched TV and just the two of them interacted. Good night for the both of them.

Dad and CaNoodle went shopping at the mall. Once we got there and inside, had a really nice time. CaNoodle came out of her quiet shell and was in a great mood. Maybe it had something to do with her afternoon nap and a good dinner; who knows. One of the nice things was I could have CaNoodle try on a robe and she doesn't know that it is her Christmas present. She wanted to carry the bags and pretty much enjoyed looking in all of the mirrors and annoucing to everyone that she is 2 by holding up 2 fingers.

One of our funny moments was our journey through Victoria's Secret. The girls are learning more about their own bodys and are taking note of the fact that Mom has breasts. Or in their languagep; "boobies" and the fact she wears a bra. Last night in Victoria's Secret CaNoodle repeatedly annouced there were boobies (her name for bras) everywhere. The maniquenes were not even safe be/c they had boobies too that was pointed out loudly. Drew quite a crowd of smiling on-lookers.

And this morning.... she slept in til 9A. Granted we got home at 10P and her into bed at 1030P but she needed a long good sleep as well as everyone needed a moment of peace from her. Mom and Dad were able to drink a pot of coffee and read the paper in quiet.

UPDATE: on December 8th, we had our Christmas party with friends. My job was to arrange for crafts and get everyone organized for a picture. If you count, you will find that I managed to get 37 kids all together for a picture with only one child crying; that would be my child.
Merry Christmas to all of our friends and to those who are in harms way for a safer America.

Let's make a deal

2007-12-13T18:04:00.002-08:00

Yes it is that time of the year..... Let's make a deal with Santa. Here is Noodle working her mojo to let Santa that in reality, through all of the tantrums and yelling when she didn't get her way; she was a good girl. And just like every other picture, Sadie the doggie is included in the picture. Noodle decided that she would like a Unicorn for Christmas. But she will also take a pink pony just like My Little Pony with a long pink tail.
CaNoodle, she isn't so good with Santa yet. During the tears and crying she did blurt out that she would like a pony. No particular preference on pony per se, just a pony. Santa was doing his best to ebb the flow of tears and calm her but like last year..... was not to be had.
Here we see some promise in the pictures. CaNoodle has eased her crying. Perhaps next year we will manage to get a good picture without tears. Noodle ate her candy cane in the car on the way home. And no, they didn't let Dad sit in Santa's lap.

Quick Update

2007-12-12T21:37:00.001-08:00

What did you do last night? We saw a group of 2 year olds wearing Santa hats sing jingle bells and a group of almost 4 year olds wearing Santa beards sing! Call it what you want but there was some singing and whole lot of cuteness going around! In the picture to the left you can see Noodle's Santa beard. Courtesy of Lands End the girls have matching Christmas dresses they both love to wear.
CaNoodle's class went on first and while there was little singing each child had wrist bells to shake. Their song was Jingle Bells. As you can see in the picture Ms. R was helping each child get it together, but not CaNoodle. Why you ask? CaNoodle and the two little girls next to her were way too busy ringing their bells. That's right. Their excellent, very concentrated bell ringing was sooooo good that it tended to drown out the voices. Besides, all of the parental units were singing along!
Noodle's class followed and just my luck. I was on the wrong side of every anxious parent to get the best picture and Noodle walked over to the other side of the stage. Drats... So I did the best I could given the circumstances. Noodle was quite pleased with herself on the drive over because she could sing the two songs her group did by herself and teach us the words. Pretty cool event. No bells to ring be/c their voices lifted through the crowd. Afterwards there was some punch and cookies and the chance for the proud parents to brag. Click HERE to see more pics.

A New Christmas Tree

2007-12-11T05:41:00.002-08:00

We are letting the girls decorate the Chritsmas tree this year. It has been lots of fun watching them put their toys on and take the off and rearrange them.

It has been such a crazy last couple of weeks. Sorry for the lack of post and pictures.

Will update soon. Promise.

TRAUMA.... we have trauma... 9 - 1 - 1

2007-11-30T08:51:00.000-08:00

That is right, we have trauma in our happy household! Serious, don't stop until its fixed trauma. Doggie, has lost half of one of his eyes. This has brought forth several bouts of tears and sadness. A plea to go to the eye store and buy a new eye. A demand to go to Grandma's house, a need to return to Peyton's house to see if it is there.

While trying not to laugh, Mom discovered that he has a permanent wink now. Although, this seemed to prevent the flow of tears for a few moments, she wants her doggie to look with two eyes open and not one winking.

Upon our discussion of visiting Uncle Bobby this weekend, it was discovered that Uncle Bobby may have something we can use to fix doggie. That idea brought comment that she now wants doggie to have sparkely eyes.

Stay tuned, more information to follow.

We are statistics!

2007-11-25T14:21:00.002-08:00

We were statistics this weekend, here they are. First we traveled more than 50 miles this Thanksgiving Holiday. We also traveled by air. We had some of our luggage go missing en route. 3 of 4 bags arrived in Houston. On our return flight one of our carry-ons was flagged for TSA rescan. We had to sit on the runway in Houston for hour and half after pushing back from the gate before taking off due to weather. All in all it was a pretty good trip.
Leaving home was an OK movement of troops and equipment. To ease some of the different surrounding problems, we packed the girls sleeping bags and blankets with us. We managed to get everything else into one big roll-along bag and checked the 2 car seats. Each girl got to bring their own backpack, Noodle's we used to carry the in-flight provisions we brought from home. However, she decided to use the backpack for a pillow so the PB&J sandwiches were flattened. I guess they made a good pillow. CaNoodle was able to lay out in the seats and take a decent nap.

The girls did really good on the flight. Noodle came out of the bathroom just before we landed and announced that she couldn't hear herself talking and it was funny to get her to yawn and understand that she had to pop her ears. But there was no crying. CaNoodle took it all in stride.Houston upon arrival was best described as HUMID and HOT. It was quite a shock getting off the plane. We were expecting it to be cooler but it was 82 when we arrived at 6:00PM. Grandpa was there at baggage claim to meet us.

Continental lost one of our car seats. We had checked it and had a claim ticket for it. They were very apologetic about the entire situation. I am not so sure Contential lost it but maybe someone else grabbed it thinking that it was there. After all of the bags were gone, there was one car seat that was not ours left on the carrousal. Maybe that other family grabbed it. I hope they realize that it probably was full of Cheerios and M&Ms. Anyway, Continental gave us a brand new car seat in storage. I am thinking that for the 45 minuts of inconvinence we made out ahead.

Great-grandma R was in Houston for a visit so it turned into a family reunion of sorts. We had a great time. She is 97 and is definitely the matriarch of the family. She does pretty well even though she suffers from Macular Degenerates disease and walks with a walker. She got around just fine, helped out when she can and just enjoyed her No, 10, 11, 12 and 13th great grandchildren.

Day two, we finally get to meet Cousin P and Cousin T.

That was lots of fun be/c we didn't bring very many toys and Cousin P and T have lots of them. I mean lots of them. Cousin P had just had her 5th birthday which was a Cheerleader Party.... don't ask.... and there was lots of pom-poms and cheers to be practiced. She also had a room that was a bonanza of things to do! They kids did really well together.

Thanksgiving Day it was cold..... I mean, cold. We went for a swing and almost froze the kids. Even though it was a short lived adventure it was fun to get outside and let mom have a few minutes to relax and great grandma have a break from the noise. At 97 she lives in an assisted living facility that does not have screaming kids running around banging things. It took her a while to get used to them.
Here is everyone waiting on Thanksgiving dinner. Aren't they just darlings??? No, they were threatened with life and limb if they didn't sit down and relax for a few minutes as we got the final touches together on Thanksgiving Dinner.
They all played together nicely for the most part but there were moments that no one liked each other and or were not our friend. In the blink of an eye all of that would change and the screaming and running would take off again. Thank goodness grandpa and Miss MA had large houses that allowed for echoing.
Finally, on the trip home. We set up my laptop to watch DVDs in them. "My Little Pony" was able to hold viewership attention. I did manage to watch some of it but could only take so much be/c it was so sickenly sweet.

We made it home. Did 18 loads of laundry, unpacked everything and everyone and now we are just relaxing. The girls went to bed fairly early and the mom and I had an opportunity to go through 2700 Christmas catalogues that came while we were gone! Full picture set aboard Flickr if you want to see more. And there are some nice pictures of the kids.

If you are interested, great grandma R had some pictures of when she was a little girl and the family that we scanned. You can see them here. Then include a picture of the girls great-great grandma and grandpa from 1910, to great grandma and great grandpa when they were dating, circa 1930 and then as the families grew up.

It just never stops

2007-11-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, 6:00AM, I have been up for an hour packing our bags. We are headed off to Texas for a family visit. My grandmother, making it the girls great-grandmother, and at age 97 rightfully so, has come from Peoria. My brother and his family are there so it will be a nice family reunion of sorts. Great-Grandma hasn't meet CaNoodle yet so it will be fun. Getting there is another story.

This week has been full on blast in the last 10 days. Mom is working huge OT hours to get a looming deadline met. That meant she had to work 10 hours last Saturday and then another 10 hours on Monday. Not to mention all of the OT that was done last week. To ease the pain a little, her company slipped her a spot bonus which was nice. As the dad, I have been holding down the fort, working, going to the doctor's office, going to school and just being all around tired all of the time.

I did get some help mowing the grass though.

Sunday night what a night mare that was. Apparently, when you give the kids cupcakes at 7:30PM they are going to still be going strong at 10:30PM. I had things to do, research to find out about. I had work that gets done in my quiet time after everyone goes to bed. But no, we had monkeys screaming and yelling and wouldn't lay down. Our instigator, CaNoodle, did it very sneaky. She would instigate on Noodle and then when I would turn around and tell her to stop, she would immediately lay back down and pretend to be alseep. (Beginning to see a pattern here that is going to last well into the future!) I was up until 2:30AM working and couldn't sleep. But did that stop me from getting up at 5:00A.... no sirree it did not! A little tired for my job interview.

Hats off to OC and Miss A. We were cordially invited to a great birthday party for OC who turned 4. She had lots of her friends and family there. PICTURES HERE.

And on a final note..... a real frosting moustache

Crowns

2007-11-10T09:24:00.002-08:00

With a little imagination, some downloaded images to color, construction paper, scissors and help from dad, we all have new crowns. Mom found the pictures on the Internet. Both Noodle and CaNoodle like to color so it becomes cheaper than buying the coloring books. We have several books with just a few scribbles on each page and no one wants to color on those now. We now have several pictures awaiting to be mounted but since we can only wear one crown at a time, well, we just have extras.

CaNoodle, never goes far without her sunglasses. Yes, it is hard to tell but that is our loved CaNoodle wearing her crown.

Going to be a busy weekend. We have an appointment with an artist to do a custom painting. We have a birthday party to go to. Hoping to fit in a stop at Grandma's. Plus the ubiquous trip to the library, work at home for work, project, two midterms and a paper due. And if there is enough time in the day, a trip to the scrapbook convention and maybe, at the end of it all, a batch of cookies and some time to spend with Mom. Who said Kids were easy?

Happy 235 to the USMC..... Semper Fi

Trick or Treat

2007-11-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

From the girls standpoint, Halloween is a great time of the year. Candy, little toys, costumes and did I mention Candy. Part of the carnival that we attended at their school was a cake walk, in this case cup cake walk, and we managed to bring home a dozen. But there is no place to hide them in our house and cup cakes are the one thing those girls can hone in on and demand. Not only do they demand, they also throw tantrums when they are told, "Cup Cakes come after dinner".
Pictures here.

We had to wait until dark and this time of the year that is 7:00PM. We put on our costumes and they were given the choice of eating dinner or not but there was a connection to be made; Eating dinner = going trick or treating! We only went around the short block. We visited just a few neighbors who really know the girls. The received some special hand outs because they were expecting us. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. G for the coloring books. Then it was home to hand out candy.

First they could not believe that we would actually give away our candy from the house. Then we talked about sharing and looking at the other children in costumes. The conversation fell upon deaf ears when they realized they could play in the dark grass and leaves in the front yard. When DAD finally got cold and we ran out of candy, we wrapped it up for the night.

We were fortunate that we limited the candy / sugar intake this year. The little that did get managed to melt off pretty quickly and so after tussing about over brushing teeth and wearing our costumes to bed, AGAIN>>>>>

More update tomorrow

The School's Halloween Party

2007-10-30T22:11:00.001-07:00

The girls both go to the same day school. Very nice and close for drop off and pick ups. They put on a little Halloween party tonight. Lots of fun for the girls. Nice to see all the kids in their outfits. More pics here.

A cow eating a cupcake???

2007-10-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

OK, so we might be a little early in the celebration, but who cares. We went to our first halloween party and had lots of fun. They had games and crafts to do. Noodle and CaNoodle were both very pleased with all of the fun to do. Our friend, The OC, came so we got to play with her. Its going to be OC's birthday in a couple of weeks so we were on the scout for presents to bring. Apparently, on my suggestion of a large puppy her mother let me know that would be "unappreciated" at this time we could take it home ourselves.... hhmmm... more to come on that. And as the picture shows cow's do eat cupcakes.
What a nightmare week it has been for "The Parental Units". Mom's job is going full tilt in 20 directions. They are coming out with some market upgrades and releases; however, everyone has waited until the last second to ensure their piece of the puzzle is working and that puts pressure on the Mom, aka, Mistress File keeper. And to add insult to injury, management's frustration seems to be directed at the people (Web Mistress) who have been working steadfastly on this. That stress just covers the first half of the day, the second half finds her home with the rest of the family units that wants to tug her in many directions as well. If you did check the links you are probably shocked at that side of the File Mistress. In reality here is what you will really get. Please insert the caption, "you want it when? Your funny!"

CaNoodle has entered the whiny clingy stage of the terrible twos. We understand what is going on in that she wants to feel secure. We also think she might have some form of allergies or a cold and that has caused her snot production to double and triple at times. It has also brought on a cough that will wake her at night and that means when she is awake, she cries out and that entails The Dad getting out of bed to hold her for a few minutes until she calms down and goes back to sleep. Between CaNoodle and the Dad, neither of us are getting much sleep.

Noodle really enjoys her new costume. She wants to sleep in it all the time and that doesn't make pajama movement easier. She is just more vocal and pronounced in her ability to announce her displeasure with whatever is NOT going her way. On the other hand, she sometimes tries to help calm CaNooodle down as a big sister will do. It is not all chaos all the time, sometimes they actually share and do play together quietly in their room.

The Dad.... that is another story. It was a very rough couple of weeks but slowly the ship has been righted and turned into the wind again and things are starting to look up. By hook or crook, they will look up.

And in honor of Breast Awareness Month. Like I need a whole month to be aware of breasts, here is my salute to those guys who figured it out first. I wonder if they franchise? And if they did franchise, what would the training program be like?? Hhmmm....

Ears and Tummy's

2007-10-27T07:28:00.001-07:00

That is right.... we are paying homage to one of our favorite TV shows. CaNoodle wasn't so wild about her ears. I think she got them confused with her real ears and the pressure that was slightly applied to them while wearing, so it was a no go for her.

And yes, when you turn 3.5, you do get to have your belly pierced.

Its Picture Time at School

2007-10-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

It is that time of the year when all of the parents wake up earlier than usually, scrub just a little harder to remove the layers of dirt and grime that build on a child on an hourly basis. And the outcome is what is referred to as "School Pictures". And boy howdy are they expensive!

So follow the link to see what came out this year. (Blogger is having issues this morning)

Yet another fun filled weekend

2007-10-15T00:39:00.001-07:00

Went out to the annual Salmon Festival that was held at the Fish Hatchery. Pretty cool if you think about all the places a salmon could swim in 4 years and they return right back to the place where they were born.

We walked around and did a few kids games. The face painting was a big hit as well as the Sno-Cones. We did get to see Wild King Salmon and Coho Salmon with scars from the ocean. That was really neat. We wandered around in the fair portion and did a few kids games. All in all not a bad day. Blue teeth courtesy of the Sno-Cone syrup.

Family Weekend

2007-10-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

We needed a break and just spend some family time this weekend instead of running around. Not that running around is bad, we just needed to regroup for a weekend.

It was fun, hectic, relaxing and hair-raising all in the same time span. The girls ran both ends of the spectrum in cooperation and sitting in their room on time outs. On Friday night, NO ONE was listening so I put myself on time out, took the newspaper and went to my room to read. It was quite funny because 10 minutes later, after realizing they were getting no attention from me, the girls knocked on the door. Reverse Physcology at its best.
On Sunday we had crazy hair day (click link for additional pics) where everyone but the Dad had their hair put into all kinds of clips. This was in lieu of playing in the sand box. I think Mom wanted to play in the sand box. Saturday saw CaNoodle doing her Godzilla impression by stomping on all of the sand castles that were under construction. Didn't go over too well and that lead to fighting, throwing sand and all in all just whining.

I have made the decision that I am going to buy myself a new camera one day and get really serious about taking some good pictures. I think I have one of the original digital cameras. It operates at 2.0 megapixels and for 5 boxtops and $7.99 shipping and handling you can get a 6mp camera easily. Nikon and Canon both have a 10mp but we are talking upwards in the range of $1500. Plus, you know me, first born male child, I would want to have all of the lenses and stuff that go along with that and you can see where the price would get out of hand really quick like. So I have to wait until I get some other things paid off before I embark on this venture. And don't forget about all of the scrapbooking supplies that I just bought and one day, I am supposed to learn how to put video onto the computer so I can record the kids into digital format. Plus there is the job and school that keeps getting in the way !!!!!

As you can see in this picture, Mom steadily working away on Noodle's crazy hair with the sand box in the background just waiting for the girls to come get in it. I think the cat had an eye on it too so we got the cover put back on.

Last but not least..... Noodle in all of her glory. And pretty good picture since most of the time with her blue / grey eyes she will have the red-eye look. Next week we have Salmon Festival and maybe a trip to see grandma.

Of note, we talked to our Cousin Peyton in Houston who we are going to visit soon. She said that she would share her toys and let everyone play in her dollhouse as long as everyone cleans up her room afterwards. Sounds like a plan and I can't wait to go and visit family in Texas.

Where does the time go?

2007-10-07T08:17:00.001-07:00

Quick moment of catch up. Dad has a new job that allows him to work part time and finish working on his Masters. That is nice because I get to work in my field of study and the work has a benefit to my department; California Dept. of Parks and Recreation. Very happy about that. Let me just say this, daycare school is expensive.

We have also started full blown tantrums. You think terrible twos are bad.... just wait until 3 and half comes around. And.... and this is the best part... CaNoodle is learning from the drama queen herself. Great, can't wait for that vocal presentation to start happening.

Big thanks to Aunt Sue for the new fleece poncho. Very warm and sometimes argued over. Aunt Virginia knitted the blue lady bug poncho so now each as one. Having two kids means you always need two of anything / everything.

Yiyang Calendars are out. Do not delay.... they are so great this year that there is a projected scenario that we might run out. Follow the link and enjoy.

Still alive - at least that is what they say!

2007-10-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being patient. Not forgetting about the blog and updates, just do not have any time. I have started a new job to dovetail in with my Master's work at CSU. This also brings about a new schedule making for earlier mornings and tired evenings. Hang in there, some new pics coming.

In the meantime... if you have not heard a Mom's words set to music, you really should take a couple of minutes for a laugh. It makes more sense on the second time around.

Art and Painting

2007-09-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

It can be art is in the eye of the beholder or in our case, on the face of the painter!

We got our paint set out and played this weekend. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Click here for the rest of the pictures. Let me just say this, Mom should be careful when she leaves me at home with the girls. There is so much that I can teach them. Besides, soap, water and the bathtub is always good for little girls. So what was the big deal... they were wearing smocks and yeah their pajamas but I was certain that it would all come out in the wash!!

And these little pests are starting to get a little camera shy or very good at negotiating. Seems smiles and camera cooperation carry a price of M&Ms. (Pronouced M-E-Ms.) Looks like I will have to figure something out because Mom seems to think that I am the adult at home. Yeah but, they are tricky... very tricky.

Noodle is getting to be very accomodating when she wants to. She likes to help out and she likes to make conversation when there is some lull around the house. "Well dad, I think I am going to play in my room for a while!" I swear this is not my child who would say this to me. Esp. when she takes CaNoodle by the hand and they go together.

Other than the neighborhood emergency this weekend it was fairly quiet. I did get a chance to watch a little football (nap on the couch). We did go to the chicken park to chase the chicken around throwing Cheerios at them. Some kid caught one and we all got to pet it but was a bit frustrating not to be able to catch our own. But... sly grin... they sure ran their little feet off trying. They also went to be early and didn't put up a fuss!

Emergency / What would you do

2007-09-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I heard our local fire truck take off with the siren going. Not unusal in that we live fairly close to the fire house. The difference this night was very shortly after the siren went, we heard a large diesel truck moving down our street and stoping almost in front of our house. THAT was not the correct sound to be heard. Upon rushing outside I was very surprised to see what was going and moving into a very surreal moment of my life.

Our neighbor, Mrs. G was standing on her front porch yelling at the firemen to hurry up that her husband, nice guy age 48, no signs of bad health, was not breathing and didn't have a pulse. And they burst into the house and that is when things went into slow motion. I pulled Mrs. G out of the way and directed another neighbor to stay outside with her. I went into the house and sure enough, Mr G was laid out on the floor, the firemen were doing CPR and one of them was saying that he could not find a pulse and he was not breathing. In my definition, not breathing and no pulse means one thing.

I grabbed a blanket and went outside to find Mrs. G. Needless to say she was hysterical with fear and not knowing what was going on. I sent another neighbor inside to find out what the status was. We wrapped Mrs. G in a blanket to keep her warm and we helped her to make some phone calls to her family to let them know what was going on. I went back inside for a status and found that they had shocked Mr. G with the paddles and that he was breathing on his own but they still had a nasal and trach tube in him to keep him ventilated. The paramedics rolled him onto the backboard and they put him on the gurney and took him outside to the ambulence. I managed to find his wallet and give them his driver's license and find out which hospital they were going to take him too.

After they left, one of the neighbors was assigned to lock up the house and make sure the dog was ok. I drove Mrs. G to the hospital and helped to navigate that first hour of the most confusion in the emergency room. Her family begin showing up to assist her. I drove across town in the night to bring their daughter to the hospital so that she could be there. (She was spending the night at a friend's house.)

So that was Saturday night. On Sunday night, we found out that Mr. G had a massive heart attack and that his "widowmaker" or "widowmaker" was 100% blocked. The prognosis is that the longer he lives post-event, the better his chances are. Turns out the doctors are still assessing his situation and coming up with a plan to get him back on his feet. Its one thing to say someone had a heart attack but watching what they were doing to Mr. G and realizing that this could be the end..... SCARED ME TO THE CORE.

This brought about a very sobering conversation about what would our family do. My family would have to come in from Texas so that would take at least a full day. The Mom's family would have to come up from the Bay Area and that would take at least 3 - 4 hours once we made the call. And the fact that we have two small children; what to do with them? Leave them with a neighbor? Leave them with a stranger? Leave them with who?????

There is no one answer that can answer all of the possibilities. We can make some prior arrangements ahead of time and put some phone numbers in our wallets. We can hope for the best situation. We can stay active, eat right, go to the doctor on a regular basis and make sure our health is with us.

Having said all of that, I realize that carrying around a few extra pounds (OK, 60 extra ) is not a good thing that it is really taxing on my heart. I believe other than that I am in fairly good shape and that I do have some cardio stamina for my size. The last time I checked my cholestoral was in the acceptable range. But I also know that I don't eat the best foods and my snacks are not good for me. (Today I had an apple and a small handful of almonds instead of the chocolate cookies and M&Ms.) I am making an appointment with my doctor to do a full 12 hour fast blood draw for cholestoral check. I look at it like this.... I have two daughter, ages 3.5 and just turned 2. I have a long way to go and putting my family through something like what happened to the G's; I choose not.

What else did I learn, Mrs. G saved her husband's life by acting quickly and calling 9-1-1. CPR saves lives. Life is way too short to worry about all of the little things that cause us stress. Right then and there, in the living room of his own home, the G's world could have changed directions so quickly in a direction I bet they would rather not be on.

God bless to Mr and Mrs. G and ya'll are in our prayers.

Intervention Weekend and Picnics

2007-09-18T10:12:00.001-07:00

I must admit, when it comes to family and it comes to the people that we love the most; it pains one to know that they must pass through certain points in their life and record them with time. This weekend, one such event happened to Grandma. In the next few days she will turn that blissful 50. Most of her family and friends got to gether and had a LIFE INTERVENTION for her. We told her about aging, we told her the problems she would face, we told her that at some point she would have to quit working. We were intervening be/c we love her and didn't want her to mark another birthday and get older.

Our cake says it all. We wish her the best as she continues to let time come and go daily. We cannot stop time or live her life for her, but love her just the same as she continues to march on. I hope she knows that inevitably she will not be alone and whatever she decides we will be by her side.

Although it has been said that 50 is now the new 30, all of the "younger kids" seemed upset that being 24 was like working an uphill battle, that if 50 is the new 30 then 24 must be the same as being 6 all over again, only this time with responsibility of working and paying into the SSA tax structure to support the "THE NEW 30!"

We also found out this weekend that CaNoodle has an affection for Cake. In fact one of the best vocabulized words is CAKE.... and yes, if you look closely in top picture you can see a little finger in the frosting.

Sunday - Sept 9 - Capitol* and Haircuts

2007-09-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last week Noodle and CaNoodle went to the dentist. Hat tip to Ms. Sunday for getting Noodle to calm down and get her teeth cleaned and inspected by the dentist. However, it cost them a great deal and each of them got their own unicorn. We seem to collect all things horses or horse types.

Sunday I wanted to give The Mom a break and to check out the RT rail system. It was going to be an easy journey; take the train downtown, run around the Capitol and catch the train home.... no big deal. Guess what RT does on the weekend, track maintenance. And that threw a wrench into our game plan be/c we ended up having to get off the train and bridge shuttle on the bus to another stop before boarding another train. And do you think RT cared that I had two kids to handle, NOPE, they were maintaining efficency by filling the bus at every stop. Oh well, we did ok. Made it to the Capitol!
We had some snacks before heading out to play. Thank you for Cheerios and Graham Cracker Teddy Bears. Was even smart enough to throw two "juice with a straws" (CapriSuns) into the backpack so we recovered from our journey.

After a quick look around, we decided that run and chase was the best game to play. And so it was... run and chase.
Also the Poser got her best view in the picture. What can ya say but get ready for trouble when they get a little older!!!

The trip home; I will cut to the short version; we called Mom and she drove downtown to pick us up. I felt bad be/c I wanted her to have some time to her self but the bus bridge was not any fun and the kiddies were running out of gas, and let me just paint a picture of cranky... it's not pretty. HUGE THANKS to The Mom!

* Let me say that I pride myself in knowing the difference between Capitol and Capital. I used it correctly here. Capitol refers to the building and the grounds that it sits on. Captial refers to money and the City where the Capitol building is located. Remember this, most Capitols have a rotunda, ie, they are round on top, like the O in Capitol. Anything other than the building or immediate grounds is with an A... as in Capital. So there.

On the promise of letting Mom put ponies in her hair to keep the rest of it out of her face, Noodle got her bangs worked on today.
With a little coaxing from big sister, CaNoodle got hers done as well. I really like the "corner of the eye" view as she still wonders how its all going to work out.
Dad.... he was an easy story, just snap a few different blades onto the clippers and presto... another $20 saved via back yard hair cuts. I couldn't even tell you what a hair cut costs these days. So if you want to save a little money, come give the Mom a try.

Click Here for Flickr pics

FYI to the day. We used to live in New Orleans and on Sunday my father would take my brother and I across the river into the French Quarter to the Cafe Du Monde for beignets and milk. A short walk to Jackson Square where he would just sit and let us chase the pigeons. Our mom got the morning off to relax and do whatever. Then it was a quick ferry ride home and I am certain, haircuts in the carport! And the cycle continues.

One is never enough

2007-08-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

When it comes to cookies and the State Fair, one is never enough. Mom threw her back out on Friday as we were heading off to the fair. I mean, while getting in the car you could see it in her face how much pain she was in. Since I was hosting an event at the Fair, I had to go. But what do you do with the girls strapped into their car seats? Not go.... I don't think so... so we left mom at home and through tears and crying we parted company. The girls sad that Mom couldn't go and Mom sad she couldn't make it.

So Sunday, we just all went back to the fair.

I will let the Flickr photos tell the whole story. You have to click the Flickr link. To sum it up:

Grandma, Grandpa, Soccer and Uncle J came
Rode the Ferris Wheel with mom
Did the Goliath slide again
Tried bumper cars - didn't work out so well ;(
Had more ice cream
Had a corny dog
Took some pictures with Uncle J
Had a nice family dinner!
Got a tattoo...... yeah the Noodle and CaNoodle have a tattoo just like their dad

Reality sets back in. Going to have to work on everything going back to normal around the house. Looking forward to Autumn Moon celebration coming soon. Stay tuned it's going to get more interesting in the near future.

BTW: in case you are wondering, the new 2008 Yiyang Calendar is coming soon so start saving your money.

It is Fair time

2007-08-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the State Fair here in town. We didn't find the Fried Elvis Sandwich (sandwich with peanut butter, bananas, honey dipped in batter and deep fried) or the Fried Coke (batter mixed with coke syrup then deep fried and covered with coke syrup again and a cherry on top) But we did have Corny Dogs and Ice Cream. Here is our ICEE stop!

The mom threw her back out getting into the car as we were leaving. I mean to tell you that it was not so fantastic. The girls were loaded in the car seats, we had been talking up the fair for a couple of days and bang..... everyone was upset that she couldn't go. I was hosting a party at the Fair for members of FCC and had to go but wish we could have stayed at home with mom who ended up most of the day laying on the floor for her back..... (we are all going back on Sunday). We have 7 families stop by and the farthest travel was Benecia. Thanks to Nicole for the Karate demonstration!
Follow the Flickr link for more photos. We did ride some of the rides and we had fun doing that. We met our friends Miss A and OC and we had fun running around with them.

And you should know me by now, never one to miss a photo op... here is OC and Noodle, "hands on the car" for running and laughing. Busted by the police.... daddy is starting 'em early!

ps: for all of you who think that Mom got some "surgery" done.... big sigh, dad is a boob and that was a trial run for April Fools next year. The Mom is fine!

Tough Women !

2007-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

So you think you can handle tough women. Well here is your start... It was told to me that someone tried to "stick them with a fork" just to see if they were done AND THE FORK BENT ON ALL 3 OF THEM.... great job Girls !

Go ahead and mess with them if you do not value your life!

Sandbox and Cake

2007-08-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to settle down again. CaNoodle has gone back to sleeping most of the night. We went through a pretty rough spell of being up several times a night. I would walk her around the neighborhood to get her to go back to sleep. That usually worked fairly well but she had a problem getting comfortable on my shoulder sometimes. But all seems to be back to normal.

We redesigned Noodle's bedroom by moving around some of her furniture and adding some of her "art" to the wall. Pretty neat, but I think we are going to do it again.

We have a new sandbox this summer and guess who is the happiest playing in it. If you guessed "The Mom" you are a winner!

We also made a cake this week and I had help from my two supervisors. Even though they had lots of advice to offer, most of it was wanting to see what was on the spatula and how it tasted.The State Fair is in town until Labor Day. We are planning to go later this week. Maybe more than once. The theme this year is "Memories are best when they are deep fried". I am figuring they didn't get the American Heart Association approval. The big draw is the Fried Elvis Sandwich which is peanut butter, bananas and honey sandwich, deep fried. A couple of years ago I did the Deep Fried Twinkee, but think that I will pass on this delicious delite!

Yiyang Calendar is cranking up and we are going to be taking orders soon. So get out your wallets and get ready for a calendar collection of some of the "Spicy Girls of our Lives".

Mom's "Cosmetic Surgery" gone bad, sleeping beauty

2007-08-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

First the nice piece. Here is a great picture of our sleeping angel. Remember, as long as she is sleeping, she is an angel. No guarentees what we get when she wakes up. But we still love her just the same. She is living up to her label of being a "Spicy girl".

The mom had a big decision to make recently. To keep up with her career and the expectations that she places upon herself, she finally did it and went in to have a few minor "things" touched up. I was a bit worried because she was going to be under anethesia for quite a while and she was going to have her face put into a bandage for several days following the surgery before they could remove it and she could get to see the new "YOU". Well, turns out the doctors said the surgery went well and they were pleased. The Mom suffered for a couple of nights due to the cutting of the muscle and reshaping of some of the smaller bones in her face but we managed to get through it. And here is the outcome. I swear, I was in total shock and I don't think it was at all what Mom was hoping for. We have a follow up appointment next week but in the mean time this is how she has to go out in to public. Shocking.. pure shock.
I think her eyes are a little lopsided to suit me but I haven't said anything be/c I don't want to hurt her feelings. We love each other just the way we are.... even if she does look like a green sea horse! The girls think that its great and they laugh with joy when they see here.

New Shoes and more broken bones

2007-08-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

Its time to go back to school and so this weekend we struggled / journeyed to the mall to come to a real world wake up call. These girls wear shoes that cost more than I buy for myself. Even at a discount on the second pair, WOW.....

Oh well, what are you going to do let them go around shoeless all day. That is one way to toughen 'em up but they are very keen to getting splinters in their feet so they like to wear shoes.

CaNoodle, indifferent to the shoe, just wanted to play on the toys in the store. Does like the pair we bought her bec/c she loves to run and jump in them.

Noodle, they had to be purple. shoulder shrugg....
And look at that temptous look in this picture coming from CaNoodle. She tries to be coy and look out of the corner of her eye at you when she is "up to something".

OK, I know, Rice Crispee Cookies for breakfast, hey they are breakfast food aren't they. Just like Chocolate Cake has eggs and flour in it!!!! And Noodle has taken a fondness for wearing tights. Last weekend, 103 degrees, Momma, can I wear tights. We said no, too hot. Today, the sky is cloudy and there is a breeze, tights again be/c we told her when it got cold. Well, its cold and so she outsmarted me into her tights.

So this afternoon I was in Target to get some more "stuff" that every family needs and they have their rain boots on sale. I am guessing last years version to make way for the new fall boots. I couldn't resist, esp. since I knew what size the girls feet were. And presto. Each are old enough to know what the word "cute" means and they spent the evening wearing their new boots exclaiming how "cute" they were.

Weekend was ok. We went to the Harvest Fair and although I thought it was going to be more like a farmer's market, it turned out to be a horticulture fair. I would have liked it but traveling with CaNoodle and Noodle; we ended up on the play ground instead. Did get a good nap out of each of them during the day but they both work up early on Sat and Sun morning.

Last night, I do not even to profess to understand what went on. CaNoodle was a bit stuffed up with a cold and would cough and wake herself up. About once every hour and half. Finally, about 1:00AM she went to sleep for the rest of the night. Not to be out done, Noodle had an accident that had to be cleaned up, then was scared in the middle of the night and then woke up crying be/c she could find her "doggie" thus beckoning parental, (ME) involvement in the middle of the night. To top it all off, I couldn't relax to fall asleep. Not to brag or anything, but maybe, 3 hours of sleep all night.

And for those of you keeping score on broken bones for me this summer, I dropped a gate on my right foot, (left foot has broken toes but not bad enough to slow me down much) and I don't know but there is a terrible black bruise on the top of my right foot. Mom seems it has something to do with working on projects in flip flops.

You be the judge

2007-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell. I mean, uncanny.... may have to go back to pony tail!

ps: in case you are not old enough to remember, its Cindy Brady from the Brady Bunch.

Don't touch, these are DAD's toys

2007-07-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

My father was poking through his attic and found some of my old toys that I had as a child. My mother was a pre-school teacher and some of her teaching visuals were still around so during our vacation, we received a "goody package"

And if you are too young to remember what these are.... a barrel of monkeys ! That's right the original barrel of monkeys !

And eat your heart out Cousin A.... Matchbox and Hot Wheel cars. Yeah, including all of the broken ones, the cars that my brother and I painted and the farm tractor. We even have 3, count them 3 little motorcycles with side cars. A very much prized possession back when I was 8, lets see, about 40+ years ago.

The Cabin will never be the same

2007-07-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the story, two monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped her head. Well, we were able to successfully prove that yes, one will eventually fall off and bump their head!

We had a great time. I forgot my camera when we went downtown to play in the park and thus missed some great photo shots but oh well. CaNoodle didn't do so well at sleeping so she and Dad spent a lot of time out doors looking at the stars IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!

The lake was a real kick in the pants fun for everyone. Noodle got into her ring and floated into deep water, put her whole body in the water and even blew bubbles. We all got to bury our feet and play with our new sand toys. Everyone wants to go back and we are looking forward to a tentative visit by our Uncles from NYC! Hurry up before the water gets cold.

Also of note, we were able to carry on and teach the girls about Aunt Janet's favorite thing. Eating candy and chocolate in bed at the cabin OR all morning long is perfectly fine. History has it that she taught that little secret to Mom who in turn is passing it along to her family as well. Thanks Aunt Janet. We are starting an orthidontia fund this week because of your "tip o' fun".

Click here for more fun filled pictures of our adventure titled Vacation.

Now that we are at home, we can take a vacation from our vacation just to relax and rest up. Oh wait, there are little hungry girls who are demanding for attention and the oldest one is shouting for more coffee.....

The Slide Addition

2007-07-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

The slide is a great hit. We had it inspected by several people, (birthday goers) over the weekend and it passed with a few "I would have done it differently but it looks good and sound.) Having said all of that, we were watching the girls playing on it last night and decided, (this is going to sound like really nervous parents) that perhaps it is just a little bit too high.

Not too high in the sense it is fun and everything but too high in the sense if someone fell from it, we are spending time in the emergency room. Call us wimps but I really do not want to observe the abuse upon the Medical System while holding a child who has fallen off the slide or fort. So in the next day or so, we are going to cut a foot off the base and lower it. Not that is a bad thing, we are only going from 6 to 5 feet. Still enough to bring about hours of fun.

And if you look real closely, CaNoodle does get airborne as she comes down. She loves it so much that she starts at the top just like the Luge runners in the winter Olympics. She has quite the little push off and can land up to 2 feet from the bottom of the slide. That is why we are going to cut it down a foot.

CaNoodle Celebrates Turning 2

2007-07-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our little CaNoodle is growing up so fast and has just rounded the milestone of turning 2. Ok, so the party was on Saturday which works out for everyone's schedule but, officially, she turns 2 on Monday. We all had a great time. Even the Noodle who felt a little left out because at 3 and 1/2 she does not share well, esp. when it comes to getting presents that are not for her. Not to worry, Nana and grandma came in to save the day!

Having lots of friends and family come by and celebrate was a great deal of fun. We put the pool up in the backyard, played in the sandbox, had a go in the swings and everyone pretty much loved the new slide. Hot dogs, burgers, potato salad and "Cowboy beans" were the menu items of the day. And of course there was cake and ice cream for everyone.

The slide was an added bonus to our play structure system in the back yard. Final assembly took place at 11PM on Friday night with a few touch ups on Saturday before the party. It was fun to build but remember, there is nothing in this world so called, free. Our free slide cost a couple of hundred bucks for the fort to mount it to. What they hell, it's just money spent on memories for the girls.

Hey A and O, thanks for the glasses and shoes! Have a great time in Portland!

And thanks to our Nana who we waved goodbye to on Friday for the very special present of PRINCESS SHOES. Everyone has grown up and moving into pre-school and its hard to say good bye, thanks for the wonderful 3 and half years.

That is right, heels for Noodle and CaNoodle. And let me tell you, both of these girls know how to work it. I mean, "work it baby, work it,"

See what I mean!! With the new sholder bag of sand toys and her heels, Noodle is ready to head out to the mall and make sure the economy stays robust and stimulated by infusing cash into it. What have we created?

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the FROGS (do the all caps note a touch of "gee thanks, you shouldn't have, really, you didn't need to do that....." from the dad who is not wild about frogs?) and the new bug jar containing said frogs. We did get them released last night. Thanks to all who sent gifts and couldn't be here, you were missed. And a big thanks to family and friends, everyone is very important to us. The remaining pictures are located by clicking on the link below.

Birthday Pictures from our party!!! - Click on the first pic for a slide show with comments.

Dad

China and Adoption

2007-07-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have compiled a list of articles to read or listen to if you are interested in that sort of thing. We are so they are very much on our radar as we learn more each day with CaNoodle and how and why we came to be so lucky to have her.

Jeff Gammage on Fresh Air talking about his adoption and his new book, a recommended MUST read to get a father's understanding of becoming a parent for the first time.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11464031

Chris Huntington on This I Believe:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11033022

Scott Simon on NPR Weekend Edition: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11626212 as well as http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1841228

Elizabeth Fitzsimmons on the difficult choice one has to make during adoptions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/fashion/13love.html?ex=1184904000&en=8aac4e856b6d36e6&ei=5070
If you are not a member of the NY Times on-line read, sign up for a free membership, well worth it.

Jeff Opydke from the Wall Street Journal on his story
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/woodfamily/love_money.html

Jill Smoloewe from NPR talking about adoption stories. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5070121

Bay Area Adoption Services realistic read on being orphaned in China. http://www.baas.org/news_special.php

It has been busy

2007-07-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

To view the remainder of the pictures, click the link and enjoy. Some were fun, some were just messing around with the camera. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jancca/tags/071507/

For those of you who are familiar with "doggie", he made an unexpected trip into the new fountain and had to dry out. No we are not field dressing puppies; that would just be wrong!

Circus music please. Noodle found that half an Easter Egg also makes a great nose. CaNoodle's picture are in the flicker set.

In case anyone is wondering what we eat for dinner; anything that the girls will put in their mouth, chew and swallow. They had a very limited diet of hot dogs or Chicken in the shape of dinosaurs. That lasted a while but I think they have grown old as well. I used to say Noodle was a picky eater, anything she picked up she ate; not so now. CaNoodle just follows the lead of Noodle. We believe the law says you have to put food on a plate and provide it to them; their choice to eat it or not. On this night it was hard boiled eggs, corn cut off the cob and cheese.

It worked because they got dessert {Attention Chuck Williams.... DESSERT with 2 SS's because you always want 2 servings} A friend of ours said he went to dinner and desert the other night and I had to point out the difference. I wonder if he goes to jail will he get a trail or a trial first?

Ice cream sandwiches are a good motivator to eat your dinner. CaNoodle has to have her cut into a bowl since she thinks that most food is made to be squeezed between her fingers.

And finally, one of dad's projects outside of the Brian Wilson Box, the new water fountain and the back fence and gate that all needed work done.

Spending a few minutes to catch up

2007-07-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Where does all of the time go. You would think being retired I would have enough time to do whatever it is I wanted; yeah right. Sorry for the delay in getting things updated but I have been so busy around the house and everything else that is going on.

Here is our 4th of July pictures. CaNoodle, sat in a chair and ate homemade berry cobbler and ice cream. She was not really into the commotion. Noodle got up and did play with one maybe two sparklers. She liked them until they got down to the end or the smoke got in her eyes and then she was ready to be done with it.

I figured we were having so much fun with the sparklers it was time to get the "big guns" out. Earlier in the day both of them confirmed that they wanted to get some fireworks and set them off in the street in front of the house. We had to enlist "The Mom" to be our adult supervision since "safe and sane" barely covers my actions. We talked it up and got the girls all excited and then I lit the first wick.

~~~~ Before the first big firework was complete I saw Noodle running up the drive way crying followed by The Mom and CaNoodle crying in her arms as they headed into the house. And that was it. Fireworks for the girls were over. It sucks doing fireworks by yourself but there was no way I was going to let a bag of fireworks sit in the garage waiting for another time.

Swimming is a big deal around here. Often we are in the pool esp. on the weekends. Swinging is another one of the favorite past times. This is a picture of CaNoodle flashing her gang sign. That's right, we have a girl gang that lives with us, they are called, "The Dirty Face Gang" We believe they are fairly harmless but will eat you out of your junk food stash in a heart beat.

Ice cream is another favorite. Besides its summer and who wants to spend the summer without lots of vanilla ice cream.

Finally convinced Mom to get in and enjoy a little fun with the girls. Everyone had a pretty good time with it.

And last but not least on the update, we are riding our bikes on most weekends when it is not too hot. The best thing about that is wearing the bike helmets with our pajamas on Saturday morning to let everyone know what we are going to do for the day.

New shoes

2007-06-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just when you think life is going to settle into being "normal" it doesn't. Very hectic around here, always on the go. Welcome to having a Noodle and CaNoodle. But hey, we got some new shoes for every body under the age of 4. Look for more pictures later.

Snails

2007-06-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

After the sprinklers run at night, the girls spend the early morning before school in search of Snails. CaNoodle has spotted one in the grass and that draws a closer inspection by all.

Damn cute kids if I say so myself!

Perfect Weekend

2007-06-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jancca/tags/10/
We started out at Noodle's summer kick off party at school. Everyone went and I think CaNoodle had the most fun. She had no fear. She played every time we stopped, she everything we put in front of her. Face painting for all.

Saturday we blasted into San Francisco for Cousin Aaron's birthday. A 4 year old boy and his loot and he ended up asleep on the floor when it was all over. But it was fun.

Sunday we went went swimming and EVERYONE had fun. CaNoodle will probably be diving a the 100 foot level before Noodle gets her face in the water. But this was just our first day of it and I know we will be back for other swims esp. as the weather starts to heat up. Click the link above and see all the photos.

June 4 - What a weekend

2007-06-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

We started out on Thursday when Noodle and CaNoodle went to grandma's house for the night. I think they had a lot of fun because they ended going over to Aunt Sue's house because Great-Grandma had come out from Texas. Besides Aunt Sue has a swimming pool and a spooky forest behind her house so there is lots to explore and be concerned with. Grandpa took everyone to the farm to see Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa and play with the animals and just overall who doesn't like going to the farm. Esp when you are 3. Cowgirl CaNoodle had a wonderful time since she like to explore a bit more. Has a more "fearless" attitude sometimes to her own demise. Anyway, Mom and Dad..... Dad went to a dinner party through his work and Mom did exactly what she wanted, stay at home and relax. Friday it was awkward in the morning because the routine has us getting the girls up and out and they weren't there. We ended up going to a new place for dinner and then picking the girls up from Aunt Sue's. Pretty cool. HUGE THANKS TO GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!

Saturday Noodle went to a birthday party in the park. Dad went with and Mom and CaNoodle stayed at home. We think its important to recognize that Noodle has friends and CaNoodle will have her friends and birthday parties are sometimes, friend specific. Besides, Mom has lots of stories where she as the younger sibling got dragged along as well as when she got older, you younger sister got "included". So, off we went. The cool thing was, a jump house, makeup and of course, CAKE. Here is a picture of the "gang". These are all friends from school.

Sunday Dad went to Target. Now this is good and bad. Mom doesn't have to go and can stay at home and relax, however.... Dad is a big kid dressed like an adult. And it shows! And when it was all said and done at the end of the day we were all tired and ready for Sunday night! But let me tell you, the explosions you heard was the dynamite needed to get both of the "princesses" out bed come Monday morning. Recap Pics of the weekend.

Today is a big day for Noodle. She is starting swim lessons at school. Not that it's a bad thing, but Noodle doesn't like to get wet, splashed or squirted with the hose. She also doesn't like to wash her hair, get her face wet and it's a chore to wash her hair. So they have their work cut out for them to coax her in the pool and blow bubbles. Hopefully, fingers crossed, she will do ok.

Update on Dad. broken toes are healing but still painful. Can't really let it slow you down so 14 years in the Navy you just gut it up and move on. Besides, Mom doesn't see any blood and gives no sympathy when the other option is laying on the couch whining. (let me get bloody foot prints on the carpet and see how "real" it is and then its a whole new story!) Also, to make for an even better last week, dad had a root canal. Remember kids, brush and floss every day.

Catching Up - Picnics

2007-05-31T13:13:00.002-07:00

Tis the season for picnics and gatherings. We have all been very busy with everything that has been going on in our lives. We race through the week between school and work and arrive at the weekend just to be heading off to another adventure. Here CaNoodle is visiting with her new friend Cathy. I think that she was trying to crowd in on the watermellon and CaNoodle wanted nothing of that. She has learned a very new and very important word that is repeated often; "Mine." No worries though, she found the brownies and figured out how to take the top off of the container. She was kind and invited Noodle over and they had way too many brownies for little girls. (Only in the opinion of her parents.)

We also got together recently with some of the girls from our travel group. We had a small reunion as well as gathered with some other girls from Hunan Provence as well.

The four girls standing were all adopted at the same time. They are all within 3 weeks of age of one another. It was nice to get together and see how all of the girls are growing. The young lady sitting is Olive. She is from the same provence. We all had a wonderful time playing and laughing. The girls don't quite grasp the connection but it was nice to see some of the parents we hadn't seen in a year or the last time we saw them they were changing airplanes for their final leg home as we got off in Sacramento.

And since most of our families have siblings we had to get a group picture of everyone who came out for the picnic. We went to the local Zoo and rode on the steam train around the park. Everyone had a great time.

Yet another milestone

2007-05-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

We were on our way down the street to see what the world had in store for us and low and behold, we crossed yet another milestone.

Skinned knees. Every kids has had them or will get them in one form or fashion. Not what we wented to do all evening but hey, no one said life was going to be easy.

Poor CaNoodle, it scared her as much as it probably hurt her. Compound onto it was right before dinner so probably a little hungry as well. (She ended up eating yorgurt and peanut butter for dinner as well as a full bottle of warm milk.) Don't ask, it got her through the night.

Thanks to Noodle for being patient and cooperative. We ended up calling the Mom home from her play group to help out. When you have one child with a boo-boo and dad can't console for some reason. Honestly, I am usually pretty good at this, just ask my wife as she knudges me out of bed in the middle of the night to calm her if she is crying. Noodle was just hungry and it was hard to make her dinner. The fairy princess kit didn't help out either but she looks good!

Picnic Pictures

2007-05-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jancca/tags/picnic/

Doing about a 1000 things all at one time. Got the first blush of it done, not the best work but more important to get them up than to worry about all of the details that can be worked on later.

Time or Space

2007-05-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Do we live in Time in Space or Space in time?

Haven't figured out just which one it is. Anyone have any comment?

CaNoodle

2007-05-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

I spend a little time looking around at some the Economic blogs. I am a big fan of Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner's view of the world. Steven Levitt has an adopted daughter from China. Here is an interesting comment on how some of the time the decisions that are made are not so black and white. Very interesting read. If you don't follow the link to the NY Times inside the article you are missing the whole point. There are no easy decisions. Well worth taking another 3 minutes to read how one family had to make their life-defining decision on adoption on the spot in the moment. Which brings me to my own personal story.

For the Grace of God, there go I. Wow. Don't know how we would have made that decision or what we would have done. We did see it first hand where one couple in our group did make a very hard decision. I can't imagine what or how that decision comes about. Not my place to judge because that decision was right for them.

In hindsite I have always been on guard of people who have jack ass comments to make about our decision to adopt from China. I guess we do have the a bit of the upper hand when we can say that both of the girls are adopted. So F*** them if they want to pass judgment on me about it. But after reading that article it just makes me think about how the decisions in all aspects of life are not always what we think that they may be. If someone wants to state their ignorance to me; that ain't against the law. My job is to protect my daughter and my family and to NOT make them pawns in other people's arguements. I have thought if they want to learn something then maybe I can help them out. Yeah, well maybe not.

There are several people that I know that are still in the process of adopting from China and are stuck on how long the wait is taking. I guess my advice to them is that the wait is not the biggest thing in their life. The referral process is not the goal post; it is just the begining. It becomes just milepost along the path of life that is going to involve bringing another little person in your life who, will forever, change how you are going to live and see the world.

Big step into the future happened today. Something that I have been wrestling with and Mom has been patient with but its time to move on. I was talking to an aquaintence who defined so well. And the bell rang / lightbulb went off. Very refreshing and relieving to be able to put my finger on it. Came home and talked to the Mom about and she had to agree!!

OK, so my point to "change the world" is over. But since I belong to this program that can't allow me to be mad and angry at the world. So, I am sorry, let's learn and move on.

Ice Cream or Economic Stimulation

2007-05-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, technically its ice cream but hey, we are supporting a business that I like that is heading out of business. CaNoodle loves it as does Noodle. So its a win-win right?

Another new beautiful begining

2007-05-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

Meet Nicole, another new begining to a family that loves her very much. Born May 3rd at 11:23A. (just in time for lunch) Weighing in at 8 lbs and 4 ozs and 19 inches long.

Mom and baby are home recovering and doing great.

The only thing she is missing is a sister!

I can't believe I did it.

2007-05-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

When I was a boy growing up my father forgot Mother's Day. I can remember that day well because my brother and I didn't know what was going on and EVERYONE was in trouble. So much so, that the following weekend, our family had Mother's Day AGAIN. (I think there was jewerly involved as well.)

This morning I had plans to snuggle up to the Mom and wish her a happy Mother's Day and then it dawned on my as the siren of crying broke through my euphoria of the moment.... I forgot to get Mother's Day cards as well. Lets just say by the end of the day I had managed to get back into good graces that I won't have to sleep on the couch. On the way home from work I stopped and picked up some chicken to BBQ on the grill. I did all of the cooking and to top it off, I got her a little piece of cake, some balloons, CARDS and flowers. I knew the balloons were going to be appreciated by the girls and the cards, there was one from everyone.

Not going to take this date so lightly in the future. I mean, I have lots of excuses. We have our anniversary in April, then our welcome home day with CaNoodle, then her birthday followed a week later by Mother's Day. Its like every weekend. Oh well, that is the life I lead.

By the way, the girls were pretty good with her while I was at work today!

Mother's Day Photos

2007-05-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

And for Mother's Day our family picture.

And the babies... Noodle and CaNoodle just being a very wonderful pair.... well at that moment anyway.

For the slideshow click here.

The Slideshow is to help everyone see large number of pictures without having them load all of the tiem.

Pictures courtesy of Wine and Jam Photography

Fun Day at school

2007-05-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

From the Open House at Noodle's school. They had lots of punch and lots of cake which is what she mostly ate. I had the spagetti and it was good. CaNoodle was there but didn't make the picture. Thanks to Ms. Lindsey for the photo!

PS: I managed to smoke the mother board in my new computer that I am building so I had to send it back. Thanks to PC Market for doing a return. I managed to get the old one back up and running.

Noodle has expressed some wisdom. Just last night she informed the family that our cat has a butt and goes poop. Being 3 all things poop are of interest.

Cinco de Mayo

2007-05-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

Mom celebrated her birthday. Haven't quite figured out how she can turn 29 yet again this year. My father-in-law says don't worry about it; one of those "mysteries" of life we men are not destined to understand.

We went to the zoo and found all kinds of monkeys in cages. Pretty cute little monkey that we slipped her out of the cage and brought her home.

Here is a question in general. If it was the Mom's birthday how was it that Noodle picked out the cake theme and flavors and then helped to blow out the candle? It was as if it was Noodle's birthday all over again.

School Pictures

2007-05-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Noodle had another round of school pictures taken. They dressed her up. Pretty darn cute. But for crying out loud, couldn't somone have atleast brushed her hair out. Do I have to do everything myself.

This the "flapper hat" pose.

The May West pose.

Horse rider

PS: first let me say, Noodle will learn how to ride Western and be a barrel racer before she does dressage. If I am footing the bill for a "pony" then its a barrel racer or cutter. Besides we are reading a book called Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa.

The pictures are a racket themselves. Who is going to walk in and say, "no thanks, my kid is ugly and you did a crappy job of dressing her up?" The people who were looking at their child's pictures couldn't get their wallets open fast enough to throw money at the company. Little boys were dressed up as a golfer, fireman and some kind of suit and tie. Maybe there is a job I need to get into.

April 30

2007-04-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Let me first start out by saying, thank God I don't have to commute in and around the Bay Area today. That is going to be a nightmare for a while.

We are having a really great time these days. Noodle and CaNoodle are getting along great as sisters. They are learning to play together and to be friendly most of the time. Or so we thought. Sunday evening the Mom and I were enjoying our dinner inside while the girls were enjoying their dinner at the little table on the patio. We turned just in time to see CaNoodle standing in Noodle's chair and Noodle perform a perfect cross check to remove her from the chair. This resulted in CaNoodle going head first onto the concrete patio. Had we be playing hockey fans would have cheered but since we weren't Noodle had to spend 5 minutes in her penalty box / room. Reprive for a hug, a kiss and saying she was sorry.

Although this picture represents the girls playing with stickers; life has been pretty normal . Knock on wood and don't jinx it.

Our next big item this weekend is Dad playing with his new computer. Even though it is not 100% up and running, the old one is being sent off to donation.

As you can see, not everyone agrees and CaNoodle seems to think we should keep it around for a while. Of note, the change in Saturday morning breakfast from pancakes to waffles. The computer turned out to be more fun than the the waffles. The day was beautiful and after breakfast we all headed outside for some "legacy" learning from the Dad.

Growing up, the dad had parents that thought the world of Lagustrum hedges. It was a bi-annual ritual to prune and clean up. So I figured that I should pass along the learning curve that I had come to "enjoy" I managed to teach them that picking up the prunings was in fact, more fun than holding the clippers and doing the pruning. Yeah right, as long as their was a large pile of leaves to walk in or sit in, they were interested.

The other great thing is that they wanted to stand on the ladder be/c it takes true "monkey" talent to stand on the ladder. We spend a great deal of time of two monkey "in the bath tub" and "being goofy" so why not "standing on the ladder?
Those are not sweat bands on the girls. I think that would be wrong to put them into sweat bands and make them work all day. Those are official tattoos that Dad finally learned how to apply. There is a science to them.
Couple of Easter follow up pictures.

When you call on the phone for Coodle or CaNoodle, please give me a break. I am deaf in one eye and blind in one ear and don't hear very well to begin with. Here is the difference when asking. Coodle is older and goes to school, CaNoodle is younger and goes to day care.

Likewise, here is the difference between the Mom and CaNoodle. Mom is Mom and CaNoodle is the little girl. Thanks to Aunt Janet for the hair clips. Bunnies for CaNoodle and chickens for Noodle. Going to be another busy week. Lots going on. To top things off, Uncle Dreamy had a birthday last weekend and was gone from home. Mom is having her 29th birthday AGAIN this weekend so we have birthday cake to consume. Like that is going to be a hard thing to convince this team to partake in. We have a party to go to at the Zoo and that is going to mean, animals, trains and swing sets and slides to play on. Then Mother's Day is around the corner. Perhaps it is time for Noodle and CaNoodle to do the cooking and deliver it to the Mom in bed! Pictures of that to follow I am sure.

Few New Things

2007-04-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Couple of new things going on around here. A few milestones stacked along the path of our life's journey.

April 19th represented Canoodle's one year anniversary for being a US citizen. There is a gray period of adoption while running around China. You spend 5 days doing the Chinese paperwork and then another 5 days doing the US paperwork and then you go to the US Embassy and take an oath and your done.... sort of.

They give you a package to take back with you on the plane that is sealed and CANNOT BE OPENED. Once you get to immigration, in our case San Francisco, they open the package. You want to hear the next three sounds... STAMP, STAMP, STAMP. One for the passport, one for the visa and one for her paperwork. Then the nice gentleman looked up and said,

"Welcome to America"

Its the thrice pound that makes her a US Citizen. George W sent us a nice letter with a Certificate of Citizenship. Anyway, just another reason to have cake, and boy howdy, do we like cake in this house.

It rained all night on Saturday and cleared up somewhat on Sunday. We put on our muddy clothes and boots and went down to the river and stomped in the water . We had taken some cheerios for the ducks in case we found any. The ducks got about 30 cheerios and Noodle and CaNoodle get the rest. We managed to soak up the majority of the river and bring it home in our boots. A hot bath including hair washing and some hot chocolate to celebrate our good day. Note: running to the river, a bath and hot chocolate all lead to a 3 hour nap by both of them at the same time.

I am working on building a computer from scratch. I was able to inspect my case, install the motherboard and hook up most of the associated wires before they woke up. More on the computer build out as it comes along.

Last but not least... Noodle got a hair cut. Very darn cute that girl (Gurl as she pronouces it.) CaNoodle was unimpressed by the whole blond hair thing on the floor but Noodle didn't blink an eye. She does pretty well with doctors and such. Friday she had her 36 month check up. A clean bill of health. 31.2 lbs, 37 inches puts her in the 75 percentile for weight and 95 percentile for height. She has all the right teeth, still has 10 fingers and 10 toes and told the doctor that we cleaned the peas and carrots out of her ears just that morning. We now have to put the Q-Tips up high now because cleaning our ears is so much fun.
Stay tuned for more exciting news as our life goes on.

Tax Day

2007-04-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Not much going on around here. I guess I would like to say that we are in the same old grind but there seems to be these little deviations that hold us on the verge of "interesting".

Lets get the real reason you come here out of the way and then we will get to the "who really cares" stuff.

Proof to mom that we did eat our dinner before we got our brownie.

Cowgirl CaNoodle enjoying a fine meal of breaded chicken breasts. (That is cowboy lingo for Chicken nuggets.

Mom got evacuated from her job the other day be/c of a series of interruptions and a bomb threat. She spent Monday afternoon at home relaxing. A bit scary but we think, by all reports, that something has been done to ensure safety.

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_107145454.html

There is a nice quiz going on over at the "Salsa in China" blogspot. Go ahead and give it a try.

http://salsainchina.blogspot.com/

PS: we did get a tax refund from the Feds but apparently the State of California will not give you a tax credit for adopting a foreign born child. Then I pose this question. Since there is no credit received, then will CaNoodle not be subject to any California State Taxes?

And some interesting humor that I have managed to collect recently:

Best use of a cell phone ring tone.

The Pillsbury Dough Boy

Jurrasic Cartoon - VERY FUNNY

Its about condom usage

Has it really been one full year ?

2007-04-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2006, a day that will forever be a very big milestone for our family. Now we have turned the corner on one year. Where did the time go? Did a year just fly by? Yes. So much has changed. The short story, we adopted Callie one year ago in China. About 10:30A local time Ms. Dong, the Assistant Director of Yiyang SWI, placed in our arms and into our family a little girl named Yin Xia Feng. Translated as Warm Summer Breeze, DOB 7-23-05.

Here we are watching as all of the children are being taken inside the Civil Affairs Office in Changsha, Hunan, PRC. CaNoodle is being carried by our guide, Chris. We were all in shock; he had told us that the girls will be coming in the afternoon but low and behold, it was 10A and there they were.

This is Mom and CaNoodle in the first couple of minutes. More comments on that further on down.

And here we are 1 year later! She has buck teeth and grown a full moustache!

Maybe I should find a more current picture! This was taken last weekend as she was playing in the laundry drying on the line.

There are several names that people have been calling their special day. I have heard terms like, Gotcha, Metcha, Handoff. We are going to celebrate Adoption Day. Yes its a great day for us but on that particular it had to be one that was most terrifying for CaNoodle. If you think about it, she was taken from everything she knew that was "right" and left with strangers. The nannies that made the trip from the orphanage to the Civil Affairs Office, about an hour and half drive, were so upset that the children that they had been caring for were not going home with them. There is no way we can look at from where she came and say that she was not loved within the scope that the orphanage could provide.

And the other reality; somewhere in the world, there is a mother and a father who had to make a very difficult decision. I choose not to think they made a cavalier choice. CaNoodle was found on day 4 of her life. She had to spend several days with someone and that someone looked into her eyes when she slept and ate and a bond of some kind had to have been formed.

On our Adoption Day, we will celebrate and remember it all.

Easter Egg Hunt

2007-04-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here is Mom helping all kids out. Noodle, Cousin Trainset, and Canoodle, searching the path taken by the Easter bunny.

Canoodle finding one under the fern.
For a little sprite, she sure made out ok.

Thanks to Aunt J for the hair clips. Click on the picture for a larger version. Extreme Cuteness, more to follow.

Couple of firsts - Again

2007-04-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

One of our friends gave us a bicycle for Noodle on Friday. After a few adjustments and a trip to the store for a bike helmet, and ribbons and basket we were off to the church parking lot. Sweet Pea also "scored" as we had to soup up the tricycle for her. Noodle did really well. Few more adjustments are needed. The parking lot has a slight incline so you can give her a push and keep her peddling and she feels the motion of "riding" the bike herself. She did figure out how to break and how to steer. Sweet Pea was just along for the ride on the tricycle since her little legs are not quite long enough to reach the peddles. Hence, the push bar still installed. Item of Note: when you push a 3 year old little girl down the incline of the parking lot and do not run with her, MOM gets very upset be/c she doesn't need to learn to ride a bike through terror. ("That is how I learned," is not the best answer to those comments though.)

While shopping at Target Noodle and I found the Easter Candy section. Yeah, imagine that, our family being mysteriously drawn to the chocolate section of any store. There we found purple chickens. Noodles favorite color is purple and of course who can't be in love with baby chickens. Most other people will know them as "PEEPS". And yes, even for me, I had my first Peep. Not a big fan of them but I did get some Hersery Minitures for mom to make up the difference.

Enjoy the pics, very darn cute if I say so myself.

Spring Break - Oh Yeah

2007-03-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

This week has been a true humdinger. I was on a vacation / spring break. Did I get to go to Cabo, South Padre Island, Cozumel or Daytona Beach? No I stayed right here in Sacramento; more or less. But I did get to see some "Girls Gone Wild" in action. Keep reading, boyhowdy does it get interesting.

Completed the swing set in the back yard and the girls thought that was absolutely the "cat's meow" or in our case, Kitty, Kitty meow. But they love it none the less. I thought we would like it however, when installing a swing set remember, if your children don't know how to swing, you will be out there pushing them all the time. Need someone trained in swings to come by.

I worked on the webpage a little. www.jancca.com. That is always a lot of fun to me. Working on some interesting story type applications to include. I bought some really cool books off of Amazon. I bought some stamps from the USPS and I painted the bathrooms.

Lets skip to Thursday before we get into the Girls Gone Wild part of the week. Thursday we drove 250 miles to have our picture taken by a really nice woman in Mountain View, CA. www.wineandjam.com. (look for the double belly pic) We had a great time but it's an awful long way when you have troop movement of the girls to bring along. We did find out that Sweet Pea is good for maybe 2 - 2.5 hours in the car before she has had enough of the car seat. God bless the carpool lanes in the Bay Area and dad needs to remember to pack sippy cups next time for everyone. We used our time and made several stops and ended up at Grandpa's house for Pizza with him and Uncle Dreamy.

GIRLS GONE WILD PART

I swear I must have hit my head and while I was unconscious the girls hypnotized me be/c the next thing I know, we are going to a place called John's Incredible Pizza in Roseville. Oh what a wonderful place it was. (Think Chucky Cheese on Steroids.) Noodle ate Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream. Sweet Pea had 3 bites of pizza, a handfull of black olives and some french fries before they all kicked into overdrive. Noodle after chocolate cake and ice cream.

Noodle and Sweet Pea CALLED to the lights!

They had a tea-cup ride. Noodle loved it. Screamed and laughed the entire time.

Sweet Pea, had to find something a little more age appropriate.

And we ended up with a handful of tickets in the end.

We traded the 25 tickets in for a Genuine, Styrofoam Mitsubishi Zero airplane. Don't get me wrong I feel the $23 I spent on meals not eaten and games that didn't amuse me was well worth the trade off for our "prize". The nice thing about the plane is that it has been broken and repaired with scotch tape twice and STILL DOESN'T WORK! Next time, it will be grandma with the funny story and interesting pics of her trip to John's Incredible Pizza!

The girls; they went wild and on the ride home slept most of the way. It was 1030PM before they got into bed and mom was not the least bit happy with me for that. I tried to get out of trouble by saying they had a bagful of Cheerios on the way out to the pizza place! Didn't work. Oh well, at least it's not cold to sleep in the garage these nights.

I certainly hope no one thought there would be actual boobies on MY blog... remember, I am a dad and I am ... you guessed it... Married with Children.... ;)

March 25

2007-03-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Been busy over the last several days working on a new swing set for the girls. I remember my father built one for my brother and I and we played on that thing for years. It was multistory and my memory seems to think it was about 100 ft. tall. Probably not, but it had a ladder to the second story and a platform with a rope swing you could jump off of. We are not quite there yet, but soon. I found a distributer that would sell slides etc. outside of the kit. Maybe after a few more "honey do" items are completed. (see below)

Natalie really liked the swings.

We did discuss a sandbox that is going to make an arrival here soon. With a sandbox, mommy and daddy don't have "push" all the time. We can sit and relax and watch them play. As a family we all enjoy our moments of quiet time. Sweet Pea is getting used to the new swings.

Sweet Pea's new hair cut. Pretty good job for a mom. I guess we are all lucky that mom can cut hair. I haven't been out to see a barber in several years. For what she charges, she does a fantastic job !

My brother has been talking about building one of those kits with the flagpole etc. We are going "kit free" here. We shall see how they both come out.