Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

And now for you rmoment of Zen...


The Little guy started pre-school yesterday. Next time he heads to school in the Fall, it will be for Kindergarten!! Holy cats!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Birthday Pics (about a 2 months late, of course)

My son is SUCH A BOY. I have to say that I am really very liberal minded and the Minute Man could have been anything he wanted; he could have worn pink tu-tu's with purple crocks and a green bandanna (and in fact, he probably would do so if he had that tu-tu), and I would be totally fine with it. What I did not bargain for was a little boy that was, well, SUCH A BOY! If it is a truck, tractor, makes horrible loud noises, shoots something, or blows something up, my son LOVES it. He's REALLY into the Civil War books. Why? Well, the rifles and canons of course! For his birthday he got TWO plastic "star wars" guns that shoot little foam projectiles. He loves them. I think that is obvious in the photos below - the only way he'd let me take his picture is if he could pose with them.... Oh well. Better the cute face with toys than without.




ice cream and cake face!



Monday, July 25, 2011

Running Errands with a Kiddo who is NOT afraid to BE HIMSELF

I read this wonderful magazine article while traveling recently. It was a one page "tips for parents" on raising "great kids". One of the tips or pieces of advice was this:

"Never be embarrassed by your children. Let them express themselves as they feel they need to, and try to encourage them to be individuals and comfortable with who they are. "

This was in the context of how they dress, or what color they color their hair, etc. It was advice that I have tried to live by, even before I saw it on paper. Case and point below: (Minute Man chose this whole outfit himself so that we could go grocery shopping. I actually go off light this day. Usually he wears one blue croc and one black croc too!)



Can you tell I'm working 4 jobs? Sub-titled: -MM is STILL WONDERFUL



Sorry, I thought I had posted new photos more recently. I'm doing WAY too much these days, but then, what's new??

Here are some new ones of my MISTER WONDERFUL!!! Here he is "hunting with his bow and arrow". (He's hunting bad Monster Trucks, just in case you were wondering. and yes, hunting in ones underpants IS THE BEST way to hunt bad monster trucks!!





Friday, May 27, 2011

Raleigh has got bugs - BED BUGS !

Bed bugs are all the rage now. For anyone who travels a lot it is good to be in tune to what is becoming an epidemic of itchy proportions. For anyone interested Orkin did a "Top 50 Bed Bug Cities" recently and Raleigh just about made the top 25 (fortunately I do not care about Raleigh, since, well, I do not sleep in hotels in Raleigh!). However, I do visit Washington, D.C. quite a bit and it made it on the list at #6 in the country.

Here is the list: Orkin's Top 50 Bed Bug Cities

There is a lot of information (and mis-information) out there on bed bugs. If you are interested in a good website with some practical information (recommended by a really smart pest management specialist!!) check this one out: NCSU Entomology Urban Pests = bed bugs.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Mr. Wonderful


Yes, I have more photos. No, I have not uploaded them yet.

But I will soon!

When did it become okay to not simply say "I was wrong"?** updared

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/24/harold-camping-judgment-day-did-actually-happen-saturday/


Do I need to say more?


(ok,ok. I have to at least say THIS GUY IS A FREAKING IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)


For another look, an article from Slate. This one is actually pretty well written.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Better late than never. Right?



Ok, I am not good about updates, so you will have to enjoy the old photos here. But I bet, even though these are 4 weeks old, you will still LOVE 'em!!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Hugs for EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!


The Dude is wonderful. 'Nough said!

I will take some pictures this weekend and post them soon!!

We are still here... We are busy busy busy

Monday, March 07, 2011

Bio-terroism and Potential Agricultural threats to Food Crops Meeting

I know, I know. Y'all come to see photos of The Dude, but I am at a meeting in Texas on potential bio-terrorism threats to agriculture (specifically Plant Diseases and Insect-vectors) - although we are also discussing inadvertent introductions as well, but that's FAR less interesting - and as a result of one of the MANY discussions here I had a reason to check this website out:

Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States



I find this type of information really fascinating. The US grows TONS of cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat... you name it, but then we turn around and import tons of it as well. Long story short, the more we import, the more likely we are to introduce a nasty pest. (Plus, we should buy local anyway!!).

Oh, and because this is why you come, here's a photo of my VERY FAVORITE LITTLE FELLOW:

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

I took MM to a toddler birthday party... and I survived

MM attended a birthday party at the local Child's Museum this past weekend. He had a BLAST (me, not so much, but hey, it's all about the kiddos!)

Here are a few (not so good) pictures of The Dude from Saturday.....








Friday, February 25, 2011

It is now officially official

To Whom It May Concern:

We are DW Parent # 1 and DH Parent # 2. Our Log in Date was June 15, 2006. At this time we wish to close our file because when we originally chose to adopt our child from China the wait time was around 1 year. All the reports about the process were that it was straight forward and there was a need for adoptive parents and welcoming homes for orphaned girls from this country. Now, almost 5 years later we have decided to close our file. We have been disappointed with the process, the lack of information, and the incredibly painful lengthening wait times. As a family, we have moved on. We adopted a little boy three years ago and we are more than thrilled with our son, and are not willing to continue the painful process of a China adoption. Thank you for your cooperation in terms of this matter.

Sincerely,

Lucky parents to a WONDERFUL little fellow from Vietnam and not-realized parents to what I am sure is a beautiful baby girl whom we have always called Baby Magic, where ever you are.

========================================================

I got ANOTHER call from our (former) China agency today. We are LITERALLY the next match group for LID June 2006 for China. It is a day that so many years ago I dreamed of, hoped for, and wished on. Now all it does is remind me of all the things wrong with the whole damned adoption system. I am not interested in going into it here, and I don't care if you are reading this and you do not agree or understand (it's my blog, either enjoy it or go away). A process that should have brought joy and happiness has only brought pain and a HUGE debt. Although, to be perfectly fair, without the painful and VERY LONG wait for the China adoption, there would have been no Vietnam adoption. Without the Vietnam adoption there would be no "Mr. Wonderful". And he really really really really is WONDERFUL.



Reading to the Cat

My little Dude LOVES to read. (Remember the pictures of the MM on the can?) Well, so no one gets the wrong impression; the Dude likes to read EVERYWHERE. Here he's sharing his new book with our cat (who is actually blind, so, you know, she can't read at all...).






Sunday, February 13, 2011

Safety FIRST!

Anyone who knows the Minute Man will believe this story, and those of you who don't know him, well, this is just how he is!

So, we were having movie night (again) and as per the routine, we get our 'jammies on and then we make popcorn. MM is sensitive to loud noises (leaf blowers, my sewing machine, the juicer... you get it) and I guess he felt that the popcorn maker was also too loud. Without warning, as soon as we plugged the popcorn popper in, he darted off to his toy room. THIS is how he came back:




My child is SERIOUSLY safety conscience. (And Big Mama, aren't you PROUD?!)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

and now, for your moment of Zen...



CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE.

Do not drink and dress




You know, when you have kids you want them to be their own little people. You want to encourage them to make their own choices (what to eat, what book to read, what to play, what to wear...). However, sometimes there are days you want your kid to choose NOT to go out of the house...

Quilting with my Dude




So, over the Holiday break, I worked and worked and worked to get this (kind of ugly) quilt done. I used to be an avid quilter (and sew-er), but anyone who has had kids understnads how difficult it is to do anything other than simply survive... BUT, now that the Minute Man is 3.5 (can you believe it??!!), I have found that it is easier to get back to doing things I used to love doing. One of those things is reading, and of course, another is sewing/quilting.

Naturally, anything I'm doing, the Dude wants to do, so here he is quilting! He actually helped me make the entire quilt: he helped pick out the material, he ran the presser-foot when I sewed, and he cut much of the threads at the end. Now, he is helping me finish the quilt by actually quilting! (The other jobs he did a really good job. However, he is not as good at the quilting part, but hey, he's happy, so I'm happy!)

Ok, OK! I know it's been FOREVER....

Ok, so, for those of you following the blog, first off, many 1,000s of apologies for the time lag. First off, this was a difficult decision, and until we told the people in our lives closest to this decision (my parents, close friends and family), I did not want to blog about it.

Then, I didn't want to blog about it because it was such a difficult thing to talk about. So, I'm not going to. I'm just going to tell you.

No. We are not completing the China adoption.

And yes, MM is WONDERFUL, and I will post pictures SOON!!!