Fall down-go boom

N recently broke his left radius (distal). In a running falling incident involving the dog. "Naturally the dog was faster than I am," N could be heard saying several times to various health care providers during our diagnosing appointment. No one would want to get the false impression that N was a slow poke. He was very proud of his broken arm. We'll see how much he likes it in 4 weeks!

Back to school blues

Well today was the official start of school and we seem to have gone back without doing too bad. The kids were anxious. I was ready! We all awoke early and by now (almost 6:00 pm) I am tired! N was easy to wake up, something I know will not last as he loves to sleep in these days, a sure sign that he is becoming a teen. We made him a nice hot breakfast of his favorite (scrambled eggs), and he was off to the bus by 7:30. He kept suggesting that we give him a ride on the first day, but since I had 2 other kids to get off to school that wouldn't really work. His Dad goes into work too early for that as well. He also objected to bringing his violin on the first day of school insisting that he wouldn't need it and didn't want to give the kids the impression that he was nerdy on the first day on the bus. Poor N couldn't get a break. He had to take his nerdy instrument. Anyone with any true character would respect that black eyesore as a sign of stick-to-itiveness on behalf of the owner or at least his mother who will never never let him quit. I was pleased to see as I sat on my front step that he was walking home from the bus-stop with another nerdy Asian looking friend with a violin in his hand as well. When I asked him who his friend was he couldn't really say. They were silent walkers apparently. N informed me almost immediately that he didn't really need his violin that day- they didn't play their instruments but did talk about a trip to Chicago to see a real orchestra play and there was talk of a nice restaurant as well. I want to go! Seeing as Chicago is a 5 hour drive I wonder if this is an overnight adventure. I know it will cost 80.00.

Anyways the younger kids seemed in good spirits when coming home from school. E who had made mention repeatedly that 'now was when the boredom begins' on our walk to school came out saying he made 3 new friends and played football at recess with a large group of boys. He also told me that they get a break for 15 minutes on top of recess after lunch. A marked improvement over his last school's outdoor time. He also has a locker-way cool! The most bizarre thing that E had to report is that a kid from his class came up to him asking if he had lived here before and if he remembered a boy named Ted. I was just trying a few weeks earlier to recall a boy he had as a friend when we were here before. Try as I might even when we got out the pre-school class photo we could not recall his name. Well this same boy is in his class and his name is Ted. His mother was a lovely person who I will look forward to getting acquainted with again.

D also came out saying positive things but the main complaint being that there were too many kids on the playground and he couldn't get to the top of the 'space net.' The day for me was most interesting indeed. I had a very happy walk home with my two girls in tow. But once we were home it wasn't long before I realized that even one cranky baby can ruin your day. Especially when you need to get through on the phone to an insurance company that keeps putting you on hold, and A is being demanding (not unusual), and the VCR won't work to distract her with a movie. I recall thinking several times that if I just had more helpers around to take the baby or put on the movie while I am on the phone that would sure be nice.

Well it's now getting to be that crazy time of day when people are hungry and punchy and of coarse T is nowhere in sight to help out while I rustle up some dinner. Sigh! Maybe tomorrow will be better. That's what I told N when he came home too...

PS I also notice that I eat way too many oreos when the kids are gone. When they are here I don't get them out for fear there will be an eating frenzy. Gotta watch that I guess.

Asian Baby

Here we see the baby in her silk Chinese PJs, basically not suited for sleeping in or anything else for that matter since washing them would be difficult (silk). The neck was so tight when I buttoned it that they are actually choking her a bit. You'd never know what with that cute smile though. These outfits weren't really made for chubby American babies. She sure looks cute in them though. When we first moved to Korea I bought some of these silk duds for the boys, and they instantly thought they were the best outfits for Karate kicking. The seams quickly ripped out, not to be repaired easily due to fraying. Yeah pretty much the only thing these outfits are good for are for taking cute pictures. (as seen here).

Out with the old in with the new

Well, I have to say that the only thing that feels better than getting new stuff is getting rid of the old stuff that is building up. Opening box after box of things that have been in storage for 2 years has been both a trip down memory lane and an experience in 'why do we have so much stuff!'