Speed demon!

It was a lovely day today so after dinner, I took the kids and their bikes down to the dead end street near our house for our first ride of the year, although Emma has been practicing a bit in our driveway. Anyhow, I guess it might be true that you never forget how to bike since Thomas was up and going very easily. Emma hopped on her trike and sped off after him!lol He kept laughing and saying she wasn't going to catch him because he was a speed demon - it was just hilarious to then hear her shouting "speed demon, speed demon" as she sped around on her trike!lol She's such a hoot! I didn't have the camera with me but I'm sure I'll soon capture our little speed demons on tape!

Music class

Emma and I have been attending a music class at a neighbour's house for months now. Emma loves it, she asks for music class all week long. The guy who runs it is great... except for one thing. A few months ago, I met another neighbour who also adopted from China. Her daughter, Maya, is one year younger than Emma. I invited Maya and her mom to join our music class. At this morning's class, as well as at many others in the past, the teacher mixed up Emma and Maya. Why is it that he can't tell them apart, being that there's a year's age difference between the two, Emma has long hair, Maya's is short...doesn't seem to help. Yet, he can tell the 3-4 brunette one year olds apart without problem and that's no easy task....

On the Move!

It was a gorgeous day today so I pulled out Thomas' old tricycle and let Emma loose. It didn't take her long to get the hang of it and ride around the driveway full speed ahead!

Vacation recap

Scottsdale really was gorgeous. I highly recommend the Four Seasons Hotel... the grounds are gorgeous and it's a totally relaxing and pampered experience. The calm and serenity of Scottsdale were a perfect antidote to the frenzy of Vegas!

Here is a pic of part of the hotel...I loved how the architecture was so much a part of the landscape. We'll definitely go back to Arizona. I'm very much an East Coast beach/ocean girl at heart, but there was definitely something relaxing, calming and beautiful about this landscape.

Here's a gorgeous sunset.

Ah Vegas, is there really anything to say...tacky at its best or worst??lol It seems they've really moved away from promoting Vegas as a family vacation destination and the whole "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" is now the way to go. While there were many families there, most of the nicer restaurants didn't allow kids under the age of 5 so we did a lot of pool side dining and California Pizza Kitchen dining! While I'm really not a gambler, I did find a slot machine I enjoyed and went on to lose about $100. We saw the Cirque du Soleil shows "O" and "Love", both of which were excellent, as well as the Danny Gans show - he's an impressionist...fun show overall as well.

The first shot is an Oxygen bar...I had heard of these but had never seen one...honestly, I don't get it... it gave me the creeps to see those little plastic things up the clients' noses...it reminded me of a hospital, not of feeling rejuvenated, but what do I know!!
Yup, we went up the Eiffel Tower...Thomas was studying structures at school and he said he'd love to see the Eiffel Tower one day... this will do for now. I have been to the original and this doesn't hold a candle to it in my opinion, but still fun.
Well, when the real Venice sinks (which it seems we've been hearing "in ten years it'll be gone" for a long time now), we'll have "Las Venice" to commemorate it! Yes, we did go for a gondola ride. Our gondolier was actually Italian (or so he said, but we think it was true since he seemed to know a lot about Italy!lol) and at one point during the ride, he sang a lovely Italian song, Emma was simply mesmerized by him. Even now, she says the boat ride was her favourite and that "I love the boat singer"!!lol
This is the volcano eruption at The Mirage...interesting, but nowhere near as spectacular as the light show at Bellagio.

Kid vacation pics

I must admit that I barely took any pics of the kids on this vacation...too busy taking pics of clay pots I guess!!lol But I did occasionally plop them down somewhere and take a picture to prove they were indeed with us!lol And look at that picture of Thomas' hands and feet...do you think he spent enough time in the pool that afternoon??lol

Clay pots

When we were in Arizona, we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Scottsdale. The grounds are just gorgeous! There are all these clay pots lying about, they make for nice photo vignettes. This is such a great place to take nature shots. So, here are some pot pics! :-) Kid pics to come soon!

After Vegas...

After the excitement of Vegas, a little relaxation was in order...here are a few pics, can you guess our next vacation destination?? Here are a few pics taken on our hotel grounds.

If you guessed Arizona, you're right... what a beautiful part of the world!

Vegas baby!!

Have I mentioned our March break vacation? Vegas baby!! I still have tons of pics to download, but here are a couple. The kids were great travelers. Thomas is annoyed kids aren't allowed to play the slots!lol We've been to Paris and Venice and we've seen dolphins and tigers, not to mention an erupting volcano!!lol Vegas is tacky but fun!! Here are pics of the water show at the Bellagio and Emma and Thomas in front of a fountain on the Strip.

A.I.

I watched some bits and pieces of American Id0l tonight. At one point, Diana R. is telling a contestant to "pron(o)unciate"... is that a real word??? Maybe it is, but I kept wanting to yell at her to use pronounce or enunciate, not a mix of the two!lol What do I know! If pronounciate is a real word, I'm boycotting it... don't care for the sound of it!

And while on this topic, do you know what I despise hearing - "seen", as in "I seen her yesterday"... it's SAW, you SAW her ... I'm fine with seen used in the proper tense though!lol I don't hear the incorrect "seen" here too much, but I've noticed when I visit my parents that it's very common in their part of the country.

iPod Shuffle - music lovers, prepare to weep!lol

A lot of bloggers do a Tuesday iPod shuffle where you list the songs that come up on your iPod. I read such wonderfully diverse shuffles and honestly, I haven't heard of at least half the artists listed but I'll often write down the names of the ones that sound most intriguing and go to the iPod store and give them a listen...some I like, some I don't. And now, I'm going to totally embarrass myself and share my shuffle. So far, the only iPod I've seen I can easily relate to is Johnny's - at least I've heard of everyone on his!lol

Here we go:

1. Insensitive - Jann Arden
2. River - Joni Mitchell
3. Bad Day - Daniel Powter (Thomas wanted this one)
4. Similar Features - Melissa Etheridge
5. Wasted Time - Eagles
6. White Flag - Dido
7. Waitin on a Sunny Day - Springsteen
8. She Will be Loved - Maroon 5
9. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
10. This is How a Heart Breaks - Rob Thomas
11. Gentle on my Mind - Glen Campbell (yeah, you gotta be secure to write this one down - trust me though, it gets worse!!lol)
12. She's a Lady - Tom Jones - told ya it got worse!!lol
13. I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin
14. Not The Boy Next Door - Hugh Jackman - The Boy from Oz (I saw this show on Broadway, Hugh Jackman was simply AMAZING!)
15. Don't Cha - The Pussycat Dolls (Wish I could blame this one on Thomas, but unfortunately I can't - he leaves the room when he hears it!lol)

Yeah, quite a list, I know...some of you might want to recommend some good songs from THIS century for me to try out!lol

Sleep!

It's 8:15am and Emma is STILL sleeping...I love daylight savings time!lol

Emma pics

Here's Emma in her "cool dude" look...she put on the headband and sunglasses!

Thomas and I were at Wally World earlier today and I picked up a couple of Dora/Diego puzzles for Emma... minutes after opening them, they're done...she's amazing with puzzles!
Here's Emma helping me make pizza dough yesterday. As you can see, she takes her job seriously!

How to eat grapes...

Eating with your hands, really, that is just so.... conventional!lol Here's Emma showing us a new way to eat grapes... yeah, I don't think it'll catch on either!lol

Meme

I got this from Janet's blog...here we go!


Four jobs I have had in my life:

Summer job at a local art gallery
Legal secretary
Summer secretarial temp
Recruitment coordinator for law firm


Four Movies I have watched over and over:

Father of the Bride
The American President
Crash
It's a Wonderful Life


Four TV shows I love to watch:

Studio 60
Mary Tyler Moore
Amazing Race
Design Inc.


Four places I have been on vacation :

London
New Orleans
Charleston
Paris


Four favorite foods:

Shrimp
Sushi
Steak
Pizza


Four places I would rather be right now:

Hawaii, Tahiti, Bahamas, Florida - see a theme?? Anywhere hot and near water!!

Hanging up!

Here's our front hall closet. Perfectly acceptable, actually, I'd even say spacious, and easy to organize as we each have our own basket for our winter gloves, hats, scarves, etc. Got it... okay, see next pic.

So then, why is it, much to Gary's dismay, that Thomas and I always just throw our coats on the little bench in the entrance hall?? Even Emma hangs up her coat!! I guess it's hard to get Thomas to do it when I won't... guess it's time for mommy to clean up her act!!lol I always tell Gary that I was a very neat child but I shared a room for many years with my messy sister and eventually, she just wore me down... so Sue, this is your fault!!lol

Already?

Emma is already fascinated by the female chest. She's constantly asking me if I'm wearing a bra or pulling my shirt to see for herself. She also pretends to put on her bra and "buckles" it as she says. Anyhow, tonight Emma and Thomas were playing with a baseball sized foam ball. I jokingly put it in Emma's shirt at one point and she ran off and Thomas ran after her to get it back...she kept yelling "my b00b, my b00b, give me back my b00b".lol

iPod

I got an iPod for my birthday. I thought it was time someone in this house got to know this particular technology a bit better. I've spent some time this weekend downloading songs and pictures. It's fun. Gary just came in to the office with a "what the *%&% are you listening to" look. Well, is there really a problem with listening to Chris Rea's "Driving Home for Christmas" in March??lol I love that song...it has such an upbeat tempo, it makes me happy...I don't care what the lyrics are! I'm now almost ready to totally embarrass myself for the Tuesday iPod Shuffle meme!lol There's everything on there from classical to Tom Jones to Maroon 5!

Tallest mountain and various other topics...

Emma was watching a Dora/Diego this morning and they had to go to the "tallest mountain". Later when we were upstairs getting ready for the day, she gathered up all the pillows, made a big mountain out of them, climbed to the top of "tallest mountain" and repeatedly proudly proclaimed "I love my new home, I love my new home"!!lolol She's such a hoot!

When we visited my parents in December, Emma met my parents' cat, Charlotte. I love cats (we have 2 of them) but I have to say, out of 10, Charlotte has a personality rating of about -7!! (Sorry Dad!! Apparently Charlotte loves my father and shows some positive personality traits when it's just her and him!lol) She's grumpy and nasty and the whole time we were there, she hid under the bed and only came out occasionally to hiss at us. Anyhow, Emma refers to Charlotte as "the mean, mean cat". While she only saw her come out once or twice to hiss at her the whole length of our stay, Charlotte made quite the impression. Here's a conversation we had this week:

E: I love mean, mean cat.
Me: Really...why do you love mean, mean cat?
E: Poppa (my father) loves mean, mean cat. Emma loves Poppa.
Apparently, no further explanation necessary! Next thing you know, my father will have her loving Johnny Cash, hunting for night crawlers and spending her days trout fishing!!lol

And if you ever want to see a look of pure joy on her face - it's very simple, pull out the ICE CREAM!! You should see this child's face when she see ice cream...it's like nothing I've ever seen!lol

Miss Independent!

Emma is REALLY independent - to a fault! Friends tell me girls are often more independent than boys, which might well be true, but I think Emma takes it to a new level. She's 26 months old and pretty much has to do it all on her own. For instance, we were going to do groceries this morning. She went out to the front hall closet, got her jacket off the hanger, layed it on the floor and did a "flip, flop, over the top" and put her jacket on, then on went her boots and she went into the closer drawer to get a hat and scarf and she was ready before me!! We were playing with Playdough earlier and she had to open all the containers (I find them hard to open, but she persisted and got them all done!), get all the dough out and then put it all away when she was done, covers on and all. She has to dress herself, right down to her socks and shoes. When we do groceries, she gets out of the cart and goes to grab whatever she feels like having - today, it was cheese sticks and sushi (not together!lol). The most often heard phrases in our house are: "I can do it" "Do it myself" "All by myself", etc. etc. I swear if it wasn't for the fact that when we met her when she was 10 months old, she was physically/developmentally at the level of a 10 month old (our doctor confirmed that her age was appropriate given her teeth (or lack thereof), soft spot, etc), I'd swear she was a year older than she is! She's a total hoot! She's also always up for anything... Thomas is having so much fun with her...she might be 6 years younger than him, but she'll try anything he wants to do!lol He had her doing pushups yesterday...you should see her do them...she is so strong!