Maia to Paris

On the last day of school, Maia dressed herself and her puppy in coordinating outfits, put another puppy in a carrier, and announced, "I'm off to Paris!" We decided right then and there that one day we will go to Paris together. After all, I'm a free translator if nothing else:)

Pardon little brother's nakedness.  We're potty training.

Maia's all ready for the trip, and Tai just wants to cut things.

Goodbye Everyone!  See you in a couple weeks!

Sharing a Ride

Our town had a little festival at the end of May.  There was a parade and carnival-type activities for the kids.  Maia and Tai really enjoyed it.

As you can see, Maia still adores Tai.

Love the Tai's face.  Maia looks bored.

Now they are both happy:)

Tai is saying, "Let's do this thing!"

Crazy Yolks

This is an amusing story.  One day I was cooking dinner and needed a half-dozen eggs.  I took out my supermarket-bought free-range eggs and started cracking them into a bowl.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that the first egg had a double yolk.  Then I cracked the next one.  It too had two yolks.  At this point, I started to flip out.  This was my first encounter with double-yolked eggs, and I wasn't sure if this was the result of genetic modification or something equally sinister.   I took the third egg from the carton and as I held it in my hand, I noticed it was much denser than a normal egg.  "Oh my God," I thought.  What if there's something wrong with it?  What if it has a chick inside like the show we saw about Chinese delicacies?

At this point, I put the egg down because I couldn't bear to crack it.  I decided to abandon dinner plans until Yoshi got home.  It took a couple of minutes for me to calm down and think rationally.  "Roula, there is no chick in that egg," I told myself.  It's just heavy because it probably has two yolks like the others.  I held my breath as I cracked it, and of course, I was right.

I cracked all 6 eggs, and every one had a double yolk!  What are the odds?  Before continuing with my recipe, I called my neighbor and patient friend, Sarah, who knows everything about food and cooking.  Amazingly, she did not laugh at me as I told her about my egg troubles.  I asked her if the eggs were safe to eat, and she reassured me that nothing was amiss.  In fact, I was lucky and would soon be enjoying a delicious dinner.  It turns out that double-yolks are not a result of genetic engineering but are produced by young hens who have just started laying and don't have their cycles down yet.  I learned something I never knew, and my fritata ended up being delicious!

Krispy Kreme

The kiddos enjoying a much-deserved doughnut after a long hot day!

Maia was quite pleased with her selection.

Tai was ready to go to sleep here, but he stayed awake for the doughnut!

The Last Three Months

Just when it seemed that I had integrated updating the blog into my routine, spring arrived and threw off my schedule yet again.  But now things are calming down a bit, so I'm hoping to post more frequently.  Sorry to those of you who look forward to updates.  I will try to do better...

One big reason I forgot about the blog is I took another class toward my master's degree.  Although all the classes I've taken have been challenging, this one, by far, was the toughest.  The topic was teaching speaking and listening to ESL learners, and I felt overwhelmed from the beginning.  Many of my classmates had taught ESL at the university level and/or were graduating that quarter.  For me, it was only my third class.  Needless to say, I was in over my head.  We had to do a big project where we met with a non-native speaker once a week and worked with them to improve their listening and speaking ability.  All the exercises we used had to be original.  I chose Yoshi as my subject, and it was a fun experience.  In the end, I survived, and although I doubted it was possible, I even got an A!

January 21st

January 21st is a special day in our family. It is the day that Tai, who was due on the 10th, finally made his appearance.  We had a little party for him with some of our friends, but this video was taken on his actual birthday and features only our immediate family.  He knew it was all about him, and loved every minute!  I'll post a link soon to some of the pictures from the party as well. 

Tai turns 2

Since I uploaded the birthday video, I thought I'd post a link to the pictures from Tai's party.   Most of you are on facebook, so you've probably seen them, but just in case:

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=257510&id=557418530&saved

Since Tai's birthday is in the middle of winter, we are hesitant to have a big party at our house.  After all, our house can only tolerate a crowd of people when we have the yard available to spread into.  Otherwise, it gets a little crowded.  After much deliberating, we decided to have the party at SICSA, which is the local animal shelter.  Who would have thought they offer parties, right?  But they do, and the majority of the cost is tax deductible since they are a non-profit organization!  Plus, the kids LOVED the dogs and cats.  It was pretty much amazing.  Even better, Tai got to share his birthday party with his good friend Stephen, who is born just a couple of weeks before him.  The two of them are so cute together!

We are not sure what we will do next year.  As previously mentioned, the party was wonderful, but I found myself missing the atmosphere of our parties at home.  The idea of the kids being entertained every second while the adults just stand around is hard for me to get used to.  My kind of kids' birthday party involves the adults hanging out eating and drinking while the kids run around and entertain themselves.  Is this wrong?  I understand kids Maia's age having kids parties, because they are usually dropped off and then entertained by the parents, but for Tai's age when there is no dropping off possible, I think I prefer an atmosphere where the adults can have fun too!  A family celebration, if you will!  Of course, this is me talking in March.  Come see me in January when I have to think about cleaning the house and preparing for all the guests.  I'll probably be singing a different tune then!