Gung Hei Fat Choy!

  Happy New Year! Daddy got back from his trip to China just in time to celebrate Chinese New Year, and this is the year of the dragon. He brought with him decorations like the little dragon above that he gave Meredith.

 We tried to eat a traditional New Year's Eve meal so we had noodles and oranges which are considered good luck, chicken and vegetable stir fry, and egg rolls. Kevin said that he didn't have egg rolls, though, or even saw a fortune cookie on either of his trips.

I told the kids that there is an animal assigned to each year and of course they wanted to know what animal they each are. They then made a puppet for their animal. Louie is a monkey; Benny is a rooster; Charlie is a pig; and Meredith is an ox. Charlie and Meredith liked each others, so that is why it is switched. (And, in case you were wondering and I know you were, Kevin is a dragon and I am a horse.)

I do not remember why Charlie is crying in this picture...but the rest of the kids are having fun!

And this is a sign Charlie painted at school for Daddy's homecoming.

~Homecoming~

The tilde on either end of "homecoming" are our wings of happiness! Daddy is finally home and we couldn't be any more excited about that. After a night of talking to Kevin on the phone while he had a layover in LAX, I got a call from him at 6:30am saying that the plane was taxiing at CVG.

I woke up the kids and we jumped in the van to go down to pick him up. I didn't realize how easy it would be to get the kids out of bed. They jumped up and put their sandals on and were out the door. Promising them that we'd take Daddy out to breakfast afterward probably didn't slow them down.

Kevin was already waiting outside the terminal by the time we made it down there. He went through customs in Los Angeles, so that helped sped things along. Standing outside wasn't too bad for him because that morning our humidity was almost non-existent, especially compared to what he's had to deal with the last month.

We went to IHOP for breakfast, as promised. Then we spent a lazy day swimming and relaxing, all in the company of our favorite guy. He even treated us to a dinner of pulled pork that he whipped up himself. Man, are we spoiled!

Later, I'll post some pictures from his trip. They are very interesting! But overall, his observation of China is that it really isn't all that different from our life here in the US. Of course, the details and customs are a bit different, but day-to-life really is pretty similar.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
--Mark Twain

Spring Birthdays, Part II

Yesterday we celebrated Louie and Kevin's birthdays with my family. It was a nice end to a very long weekend. We had a yard sale on Saturday and it wiped out the whole family! My mom generously offered to host and make all the food so all we had to do was show up and enjoy the party!

Miss Grace was there showing off her new talent--walking! She isn't completely sure of it yet, but she definitely gets her feet moving and has taken eight steps, according to her daddy.

I had to include this picture. Benny did pretty well, but Charlie did not like being left out of the opening of presents. It wasn't a big surprise for an almost three-year-old, but I wasn't going to make the birthday boy give up his opportunity to open his own gifts. You know there's no way that Charlie is going to let Lou open up gifts later this summer!

Charlie recovered and all the boys helped both Louie and Kevin blow out candles on their respective pies. Louie had banana cream; Kevin, rhubarb-strawberry; and the third pie was pineapple coconut. Yum!

And by the end of the night we were all ready to hit the hay!

First Game of the Season!

(For most of us!)

We saw this truck while we were walking from our parking garage down to the stadium to watch the Reds take on the Dodgers. They were putting up the skeleton for a new building and the boys are now convinced that Batman is moving downtown.

The boys had practice on Kevin's birthday, so we decided to go the day before and Aunt Joanie was able to get us some tickets for that night. I haven't made Meredith's Rosie Red costume yet, so we settled for a red and white polka dot outfit. The original capris were striped, but it was too cool for them. So she ended up looking like Minnie Mouse instead!

We packed the usual of hot dogs and peanuts, but the more interesting aspect of this picture is the shot of the two people in between Ben and Charlie. So bizarre.

It was a school night, yes, but it was Daddy's special birthday game. We stayed until after the Reds batted in the 7th. The score was 9-4. We could chalk this up as a winner.

We were walking back to the van when a guy drove by us while we were stopped at a corner. "They tied it up!" he yelled to the family in clad in Reds gear. WHAT? I thought for sure that he was just joking with us. Sure enough, when we made it back to the garage and turned on the radio it was tied.

We listened on the drive back and luckily our Reds pulled it out, 11-9. We should have stayed!

Birthday Boys

Yesterday we celebrated Louie and Kevin's birthdays with Kevin's side of the family. We did the ol' standby of "baseball themed" which is a favorite and we always have plenty of stuff to decorate with and plenty of clothes to wear.

Louie got these cool shades from Aunt Jill and Uncle Nick. He'd look pretty tough if it weren't for the Hawaiian Punch-stained mustache.

I don't know what was going on in the picture, but I like the look they're giving to each other over melting sundaes.

Happy Birthday, Louie and Kevin!

Saint Kevin

On Saturday, I had an annual event where I travel a little less than an hour to spend an entire day scrapbooking with my good friend from college. Catching up on our lives through chatting goes on more than in the pages in our albums, but it is something I really look forward to each year.

That day also turned out to be Louie's basketball banquet day as well as a fundraiser at his school called "Fun Fest." Kevin, who I knew would have no problem doing it all with all the kids, took everyone to both events and gained the respect and admiration of other mothers who were at both events. They were mesmerized by his lack of anxiety over having the four youngins out by himself. They actually called him "Saint Kevin!"

I count myself fortunate that I have a wonderful husband who is willing and comfortable taking his kids so I can get away for the day, and I don't have any worries while I'm gone. Thank you, Kevin!

The Godfather

Would you trust this guy with your kid?

Well, apparently Joe and Erin do because they've named him Grace's godfather! He is so happy to have this special role in Gracie life :)