Educational Fieldtrip

Next week the Lawyer, Aunt Suzie,the kids and I are going on a very special educational fieldtrip. We'll figure out how many miles it is between Rochester & Orlando, observe the effects of high humidity on Mama's hair, wear pedometers to count our steps & hopefully not watch the mating rituals of alligators at Gatorland. Yes my friends,the Griswolds are going to Disney. The Lawyer graciously volunteered to stay home and "watch the dogs" but I would hear none of that. I assured her that our hotel has bars with enough alcohol to soothe her anxiety.
The kids are OUT OF THEIR MINDS with excitement. We are busy reading maps & planning our strategies. I haven't been there in 30 years and Aunt Suzie has never been there. The excitement is out of control.

Ana's violin recital

May is a crazy time of the year. My sister Anne and I were talking yesterday and she said the month of May feels like December with all its craziness. For some reason, schools hold culminating activities in May which makes kids feel like school is over. No wonder they act crazy for the rest of the school year, which is the last week of June for us!
Today Analise had her violin recital. She played "Go tell Aunt Rhody" perfectly, after practicing it literally 100 times!
Ana played with her teacher Sherry. Sherry understands Ana's learning style so well, it's scary. I talked to her once about Ana's auditory processing problems and she just "gets it."

Every time she performs, she has a totally serious frown on her face. Then when she's done, she looks right at me and gives her dimple-y smile!

Happy Anniversary to my Lewie

Four years ago today, in an office building in Nanjing, we met our boy, Lewie, aka "Xing Xing." He went from looking at us shyly through his fingers to a full throttle, ear piercing screech. This morning I told Lewis that today is his adoption day. He kept saying "it's my anniversary." He has been running around this afternoon is just his undies and tapped me on the shoulder to see him in the costume pictured below!
My 2 year old baby boy in Nanjing.

My strange 6 year old baby boy today!

Sniff deeply, eat fried dough

In 1892, 20 lilac bushes were planted in a Rochester, NY park. Today there are 1200 and it's Lilac Festival time! The poor guys who built this park are no doubt rolling in their graves as people eat their fried dough and buy all sorts of crap that is hawked during the festival. We went on Mother's Day, early in the morning, before anything was open. We went back last night for some snacks! Yes, Frances had a fried dough!

Read of the week

I just finished Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (she wrote Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake). It's a book of short stories, all with Indian characters. I love that she can write from the point of view of a man or a woman, old or young, with equal grace. 2 thumbs up.

Sunday night shopping

Late Sunday afternoon, I remembered that Lewis needed new sneakers so we went off to Tar*get. The Lawyer refused to join the merriment. Something about 4 kids in a store on a last minute shopping trip makes her queasy. Party pooper.
I am a sucker for my kids when we're shopping. So of course, everyone HAD TO HAVE new shoes.
Once I agreed to buy Lewis these:

He relented and let me buy him these:

Elly, who needed NO shoes got these:

Which mysteriously didn't fit her this morning (too big). She must have been holding them onto her feet just right so they looked like they fit. When I wouldn't let her wear them to school this morning, she fell onto the floor and wept because "I hate all of my OLD shoes." Me: "Why don't you wear the ones I gave you for your birthday? (less than 2 months ago) Eliz: "NO THEY ARE SO OLD!"
Ana got the oh-so-cool H*annah M*ontana skimmers:

I had to order a pair of skimmers for Frances because they didn't have her size.
After Tar*get, we went to Toys*r*us. Aunt Suzie - do not make a single comment about how much crap we have in our garage, OK? I got the kids this, just because I'm the most awesome mom on the planet:

Birthday weekend!

My sweet Analise turned 8 on Saturday! She was invited to another girl's birthday party which was a big treat since it was held at a kiddie spa/salon. She had her nails done and her hair was curled and put into a gorgeous up-do! For some reason, she wouldn't let me take her picture but believe me, she looked stunning. We had her favorite dinner (homemade tortillas, guacamole, salsa, beans, chicken) and ice cream cake for dessert. Today we went to see "Nim's Island" which was a little overwhelming for Ana, Lewis & Elizabeth. It was a great weekend for everyone!

Roller Derby Mama

My brand-new Roller Derby Name is BabyFace BatterHer.
Take MIA PSYCHO'S ROLLER DERBY NAME GENERATOR today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Mr Nudie

We have a wonderful babysitter who comes to our house every day to get the kids off the bus and keep the chaos until I get home from work. She has 2 kids, also adopted from China, so there are 6 kids in the house! Yesterday I came home and saw Lewis sitting at the computer, playing some game, in nothing but his undies! He came home, stripped, and got down to the business of play. As I was asking him why he was next-to-naked, the babysitter was just standing there laughing. How did we find this woman who understands our craziness? LUCKY!