Happy Birthday Auntie Erika

Anthony made the card himself, both inside and out.

In case you can't tell, all the letters are there. Happy should be readable. He ran out of space for the final letters of "birthday" so they got wrapped around on top.

On his teachers' recommendation we decided to delay starting kindergarten for a year. One of their reasons was his fine motor skills, or lack thereof.

We're live to adopt #2

Took longer than we initially expected, both to start the home study and to get it all done.

Last week we finally went live with our agency. No idea how long it will take, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Thank goodness we hired a graphic designer to do our outreach materials this time around. Jamie did an amazing job and was FAST.

Check us out at:
http://www.bobandkarin.us/
I heart adoption

Baking Bread

This was a project my mom did with us when we were kids. One summer my mother's rule was that we could bake whatever we wanted, as long as it had yeast.

We used my mom's recipe to bake bread from scratch, using my stand mixer to knead. Anthony seemed to understand the process a bit and certainly enjoyed punching down the risen bread dough. He fashioned his loaf into a crown of sorts.

Rainy Day Fun

 Anthony received a dinosaur themed science kit for his 3rd birthday.  The kit was labelled 4+, so I set it aside for a rainy day.  Well, Saturday was a rainy day so I pulled it out.

  The first toy was nearly a bust.  It was a glow in the dark dinosaur skeleton to assemble.  Anthony loved watching it glow, but it was hard for Daddy to assemble, no "help" required.

  Excavating for dinosaur bones, on the other hand, was a hit.  Basically we had a chunk of clay with "dinosaur fossils" buried inside.  We used tools to chip and brush away the clay.  Theoretically you can assemble them into a skeleton, but we're NOT going to torture poor Daddy that way.

St. Patrick's Day

Anthony came home from preschool yesterday very excited about the leprechaun that came to preschool. Despite setting a trap for it, they weren't able to prevent him from causing all sorts of mischief including peeing green in the toilet.

I was happy to leave the St. Patrick's Day fun to that. Then Anthony woke up this morning wanting to go out into the garden to find the chocolate coins the leprachaun left. (I wish preschool had given me a heads-up on that one.) I snuck out to the grocery where there weren't any chocolate coins but I they did have some VERY intensely colored sugar cookies.

The leprechauns didn't pee in our toilet, but we did have leprechaun poop a day or so later!

Daddy's New Airplane

   Yep, we own 1/3 of it!

Beauty and the Beast

Anthony is a big fan of musical theater. He has been since he saw his first show at the grand old age of 3 1/2. When we saw that this year's season of Broadway San Jose included both "Beauty and the Beast" and "Mary Poppins" we knew we'd need to buy season tickets. (Bob and I also saw West Side Story and have tickets for "In the Heights" next month.)

Anthony had a bit of a hard time sitting through the slower parts of the show, but he still enjoyed it immensely. After church we drove downtown and had lunch at a 50's themed diner. Anthony happily helped himself to the whipped cream off the top of Daddy's chocolate malt, yet rejected the milkshake part. We watched the orchestra warming up. Anthony came back to his seat and told Daddy about seeing "the mama cello and the baby cello". It was a good day.

Gymnastics Birthday Party

Today was a classmate's birthday party at a local gymnastics studio. Anthony is NOT at his best at "mommy and me" type events. He clings and doesn't participate. It is often a struggle to physically remove him from my leg at drop-off events (though he's fine once I'm out of sight), so I was a little worried how the event would go. I told him multiple times that he would go join the party and do gymnastics, while Mommy stayed with the other grown-ups.

Maybe it was the preparation, maybe I worry too much, probably both. He did GREAT! When it was time for the party to start he trotted out on the mat with his friends and had a great time! (I couldn't get too many pictures, though. If I approached he'd rapidly get clingy.)

I think the highlight of the party was jumping into the foam pit. Jumping on all the trampolines seemed like a lot of fun, too.

If you ask Anthony what his favorite part was, he'd say the ice cream cake.

The Carrot Farmer Rides Again

This afternoon we headed over to the nursery to get some seeds for summer planting. We got a few different varieties of carrots, sugar snap peas, tomatoes and some pumpkin seeds. I have no idea where all these plants are going to go.

We got the carrots started in the pots out back and the sugar snap peas started in little peat pots to transplant in a few weeks. We're a little late in the season for peas, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. This afternoon he ran out back to see if his carrots had sprouted yet. Germination time is 7-10 days, not 2 hours. It might be a long 7 days.

Yes, the child was gardening in his church clothes. Apple doesn't fall far from the proverbial tree.

Cinderella

If only we'd known there would be a character "meet and greet" we'd have lugged the big camera.

We are so fortunate to live in a vibrant community with an amazing variety of activities. Today we went to the Sunnyvale Community Theater to see the CTC production of Cinderella. As expected, Anthony loved it, though he was concerned by the poor behavior of the step-sisters. (Their behavior was pretty dreadful.)

I spent about half the production watching him soak in the show. He found everything fascinating from the scene changes to the curtain call.

We've spent a fortune on theater tickets this season. Next week(!) we're going to see the touring version of "Beauty and the Beast." Next month its back to the CTC for "Jack and the Beanstalk". Then in June its the Broadway tour of Mary Poppins.

More Beach Pictures

I snagged these pictures off Ciaran's blog. The last picture is the boys examining the remnants of a crab Bob saw on the beach. It was mostly seagull fodder, but there was some body and one claw left.

Did I mention the water temperature was 52 degrees?

Daddy's Trip to China

I love the combination of the Starbuck's logo and the traditional architecture.

I was a little worried about being on my own with Anthony for a week and a half. While I'm aware that plenty of women manage on their own with more kids for a lot longer, I'm blessed with a husband who is helpful around the house and a very hands-on Dad. (Anthony knows that Saturday mornings he should go to Daddy to get up and watch tv because Mommy is staying in bed.)

We did okay, better than I expected, actually. Weekday mornings were actually a little LESS stressful. I normally leave the house at 7:00, so that I can leave work early. Daycare doesn't open until 7:30, so we had an extra 20 minutes each day. (Of course, I was late to work every day, but my boss is understanding.) I hired a teenager to babysit for a few hours on Sunday so I could have some quiet, and Anthony even chose to nap on Saturday.

A Glorious Day

The weather the past few days has been amazing. Yesterday one of my co-workers commented that he might take his kid to the beach today. I was inspired. This morning we loaded Elly and Ciaran into Bob's car and headed off to Natural Bridges State Beach. (I cajoled my sleep-deprived, jet lagged husband into going with a promise of a nap in the sun.)

Bob did not get his nap. Instead he played in the water with the boys. He is such a good sport. The frigid water temperatures didn't stop the little boys and Bob gamely joined them. He also brought his kite and the kids were thrilled to "help" fly it.

Daddy goes to China

Daddy got back Wednesday from a week and a half long trip to Shanhai. Honestly, we were pretty lucky that this was the first time he's had to go. He spent most of the time working but did have a little time to get out sightseeing.

Anthony and I missed him a lot! We were able to keep in touch a little through the miracles of modern technology. We skyped briefly every night at bedtime (Anthony kept demanding to see the other people in the room) and Anthony would hug the monitor goodnight. On the weekends we got up and rushed to the computer so we could talk for awhile before Daddy had to go to bed. On the non-technology side of things, we made a paper chain with ten links. Every day we tore of another link until Daddy came home.

We sent some surprises in Daddy's suitcase, so he wouldn't miss us too badly. They included one of our family Valentines and one of Anthony's, some homemade cookies and a piece of Anthony's artwork.

Things he says

So this morning I said to him, "Must you wipe your mouth on your sleeve?"
He responded, "But there was stuff leaking out my mouth."
My response, "You could use a napkin" was completely ignored.

Sarah asked him if he would like a drink of milk or water.
His response, "Milk PLEASE."
Then she handed him the water and he said "Thank you."
Okay, that doesn't sound like a big deal, but kids don't often use manners unless prompted.
I was very pleased.

Woodworking Class

Anthony's preschool offers woodworking projects to all the 4 and 5 year olds.

Teacher Burt takes the kids one at a time and does the project with them. Today was Anthony's turn.

He told me how he used a "grown-up saw" to cut the wings and showed me how he held the saw. He pounded the legs in with a hammer and sanded the edges with sandpaper.

Supposedly the project is guaranteed for life!

I really do love his preschool, they do the neatest things!

Valentines Treats

Anthony loved Valentines day this year. I ended up writing his name on most the cards. I had hoped he would do it, but it was just too big of a task for him. It turned something fun into a dreadful chore. He did design which friend got which card.

He came home from his various parties with a wide variety of candy. I enjoyed teaching him to eat "Fun Dip", I remember how much I enjoyed it as a kid.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. Daddy took the good camera to China.

Good Dentist Appointment

I know I've used this picture before, but it seemed appropriate.

Daddy took Anthony to the dentist last week for his regular check-up. Anthony was pretty nervous, he didn't believe me when I told him that Dr. Maria wasn't going to give him a shot. Shockingly enough, the kid got a good report card. He's been pretty uncooperative about teeth brushing for awhile now.

Anthony didn't like it when the dentist cleaned his teeth with the "buzzy tooth brush", but discovered quickly that the dentist would turn off the movie if he didn't cooperate. He still didn't like the taste of the fluoride treatment.

Baking Party with the Donahues

Yesterday we had the Donahues over to our house to bake cookies for Valentine's Day. We got off to a rough start--Anthony was not prepared to take turns measuring ingredients. Once we got past that hurdle they made a great batch of Peanut Butter Blossoms. Then they decorated heart cookies I'd made the night before. Their styles varied greatly--Robert put on teeny squiggles of icing while Anthony, as per his usual form, completely obliterated the cookies with icing.

McDonalds

On our way home from Tahoe we stopped for dinner at McDonalds. I'm sure he's eaten at one before (the Denver airport last September comes to mind), but I think this might have been his first "real McDonalds experience." He picked at his nuggets, loved his happy meal toy and even enjoyed the box it came in.

Fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

And yet we really don't have much in the way of pictures to show for it.

Saturday dawned a glorious day so we headed up to the San Francisco Zoo. Its been almost two years since we were last there.

Highlights included watching a rhinosaurus play soccer, feeding time at the grizzly bears and the insect house. We really had to pull Anthony off the spider web to go inside the insect house, but he seemed pretty fascinated once we were in there. (There was some seriously creepy stuff.)

The first animals (even before you go in the gates) are the giraffes. We watched one feeding, but Anthony didn't seem that interested in his tongue. (Strange, its about 8 inches long and purple!)

Ski School

Anthony LOVED ski school. We arrived a bit early the first day to watch him in action. I was pretty impressed with what he accomplished in one short (exhausting) day. He was shuffling around on his little skis and could glide down a short hill under his own power.

At the end of the first day he graduated to level 2. The instructor warned me that level 2 was hard as 4 year olds don't really have the muscle development to snowplow. She was right, we're going to do at least one more round of level 2. That's okay, he's having a great time and we are thrilled to death!

Snow!

Sometimes I think Anthony is leading a very deprived childhood. When we were in Omaha, he saw a small pile of very old, very dirty snow and wanted to touch it; it was the only snow he'd seen in a long time.

We headed up to Tahoe for a weekend skiing. Anthony woke up just as we pulled into the resort (11:30 pm) and was SO EXCITED to see snow out the window.

There wasn't much snow, its been a remarkably dry winter. However, there were a few piles of it and we let Anthony play for awhile before ski school. He refused to wear gloves leaving the condo. One touch of snow, though, and he wanted them on his hands!

Monkey Boy

He made it across the monkey bars all by himself!

Surprise Birthday Party

We had a surprise party after church today to celebrate Pastor Mark's 60th birthday. Anthony was VERY excited to see the pinata, but then a little worried about how it worked. At his parties, the kids can see the pinata, its stationary and then they try and hit it with a bat. Then, they don't make a dent in the thing and the grown-ups finish it off.

It was pretty funny watching Anthony watch Pastor Mark hit the rafters of the fellowship hall rather than the pinata. He was very concerned about the whole thing. He was also a bit reluctant to take his turn at bat until I reassured him that he didn't have to wear a blindfold.


I was actually quite impressed with the behavior of the other kids today. Generally I think that pinatas bring out the worst in kids with the greedy scramble for candy.

Three highpoints:
1. Anthony randomly started near the front of the line with a few of his little friends behind a bunch of ten(?) year olds. The bigger kids saw the little ones and pushed them to the front of the line.
2. Another big kid gave Anthony a piece of his candy. I assume it was with parental prodding, but it was still nice.
3. Anthony was chewing away on his lollipop and holding two pieces of chocolate when I noticed that his girlfriend M. was out of candy. I asked him to share with her and he did so willingly.

I mean it when I say that M. is his girlfriend. They are SO cute together. She looks forward to seeing him as much as he's excited to see her. (The other day they had a rough time getting out the door. M's mom said, "I bet Anthony will be there" and out she skipped.