A Brief Moment Of Clean

in the moment between bath and yogurt.

Gabrian Is One Cute Boy

said with all the conviction and bias that a mother can possess.

Conor Is A Good Sport

He did not want company with his book, but he ended up reading with the little 'uns. (Yes, they're reading First Thousand Words in Spanish. What else?)

Can You Guess What This Book Is About?

Yep, space! How'd you know?
He soaks up all information like a sponge, but given free choice, he will read about space. (How stereotypically Aspie of him! We think he's looking to find his way back home out there somewhere.)

Ari Likes Self-Portraits With The Camera Phone

Juxtaposition

When I went back to the photo directories to look for one-year-ago memories, I found a wonderful mix of pictures. The pictures are named by date with a suffix which identifies the camera. Pictures that my mom took at home, then, are mixed in with pictures we took in China in date order. Part of the directory looks like this (all pictures one year old):

A calm, snowy day in Washington State, USA, . . .

followed by anxious parents waiting at civil affairs in Nanning, Guangxi province, China.

Brothers playing DS at home. . .

while their parents see their sister for the very first time on the other side of the world.
(Blurry picture as the camera was operated by our guide, but our first glimpse of Ariana, whose adoption blog will be updated very soon.)

Year Of The Ox

Ari was as determined that he participate as he was that he was not interested at this minute.
(Picture taken before I had to intervene.)

(More about what we're doing for Chinese New Year on Ariana's blog.)
And the "earrings" are stickers meant for nail art -- no piercings! :)

Annual Try To Look Presentable Day

What? The Kitchen Is Not A Bench?

Cuddling The Kitty

Family Resemblance

Another Desktop Attempt

I made the kids pose for me;
we have a new computer system at work, so I needed something new to set as my desktop.

A Big One and A Little One

There's quite a size differential between my oldest and my youngest.

Can She Still Wear Her Traditional Dress for CNY?

(Ummm. . . No.)

For reference - last time she wore it:

http://tinyurl.com/7zzltb

Andrew's Second Birthday Party

Friends over from Friday night to Sunday afternoon . . .

Andrew's First Birthday Party

(No, not the one where he turns 1, but the first of two when he turns 15.)
Camera phone pictures . . .

Birthday dinner at Red Robin.

Mmmm. Root beer is a surprise and a special treat. We usually make them stick to ice water. It already costs too much to feed this crew!

Ari gets to share the birthday sundae.

Gabrian gets to share birthday sundae.

Conor begs unsuccessfully for birthday sundae.

Have A Little Nap With Karma

Karma couldn't be happier.

I Said DON'T Take My Picture!

(Actually, she likes the camera phone usually & asks to have her picture taken, particularly "self-portraits" with the camera held out at arms length.)

Another Budding Saxophonist