Monday, March 19, 2007

Sibling Love


Welcome to the new blog! Top billing today goes to Aunt Sara, who took this fah-boo picture of the kids when I ran away to get a pedicure (one of, uh, one this year). I've snapped literally hundreds of pictures of these guys, and in one 3 minute photo-op she gets full cooperation and total cute.

So why the new blog? Well, I wasn't planning for the blog to persist beyond our trip to China. And now that Wen Li has been with us so long, she is no longer "our adopted daughter from China", just our beloved younger child, and resident Toddler Extraordinaire. So the rather unwieldy title no longer fits, whereas the new one more accurately reflects our attempts to survive homeschooling, traveling, moving, and Hurricane Wen Li.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

March Madness

We spent Friday at the zoo (before it snowed again!) and Miles visited with one of his many rodent favorites, the mongooses. Mongeese. Whatever.
This is Wen Li saying get me off this creepy thing! Normally an adventurous sort, I think she was turned off by the gross caricature of what, we can only guess.
Miles and Wen Li ignoring the bag lunch I stayed up late packing, in favor of the crap candy that I bought before lunch. Rookie parent mistake, I know.
Wen Li was quite thrilled with her Flic -n- Lic, a lollipop that came out of a switchblade-type casing. Those wacky German candy manufacturers.
OK, there's a whole story that goes with this picture. A little background - I haven't been in favor with Miss Thing lately, probably because I spend a lot of time enforcing safety rules, withholding treats requested right before dinner, and conducting Thorough Nose Excavations.

So we enter the petting zoo, also known as the Crazed Hungry Obnoxious Small But Strong Goat lot. I had purchased some "pellets" from the vending machine, envisioning some sweet pictures of the kids feeding the goats, communing with nature, developing a powerful compassion for all living creatures, etc. (yeah, a lot to expect for sixty cents).

What actually transpires - and you know what's coming if you've ever been to one of these things - is a stampede. These guys were up on two legs, shoving me and fighting over these dry little pellet things. I was looking for Wen Li to make sure she's OK, when I feel her wrap around my leg. Normal, probably pretty scared at this point. But no, she's going to defend me from the hordes! She is shoving goats away with her other hand and yelling "NO! My Mama!" at the top of her lungs.

It was a tear-y moment for this mom.