Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese... We were there for almost four hours! It was an angry bird theme, how fun! NJ had a blast and was off running around on his own half the time. We had to track him down sometimes, but there were lots of other mommies and daddies and we all kept an eye on each other's kids. We all had a good nap after until we got some visitors. That was great, we had dinner together and our kids all hung out together. I love the community we have with close friends. We get to relax, eat, talk, and we all look out for each other's kids. It's always great to get friends together and see people you don't get to see often. 

"Dotty, there's nothing to be scared of!"

NJ waited patiently for us at the dentist's office today. I brought him a bag of stuff to occupy him. 

We went for lunch at one of our old favorite's. Oh the things I miss! 

He went around the house "vacuuming" asking me, "Mama, why this not working?" 

Baba had to tell him it wasn't real. He seemed pretty disappointed about that! 

Conversations of the day...

"Dotty, there's nothing to be scared of!" (as she runs away from him)

"Dotty, what did you do?! Dotty, you suppose to pee outside! Oh my gosh, that's gross!"

"Why we have a pool? Why some people have pools and why some people don't?"

"I like sharks. Noah don't like sharks. I ask him and he said he don't like sharks." (Who's Noah? From school?)

M- "Who's on your shirt?"

NJ- "R2D2!"

M- "How did you know?"

NJ- "Because Ah-goo (uncle) has one!"

M- "You know where that's from?"

NJ- "From Joshua."

M- "Not the shirt, what movie?"

NJ- "Star Wars!"

M- "How did you know?!"

NJ- "Because I know!"

Memories and Stuff

The last two days I've been cleaning out and cleaning up. One trip to Buffalo Exchange, two trips to the Salvation Army, and a trip for some more space bags, made for some cleaner closets. I sold some stuff on Craigslist and I'm finally back on Ebay, it feels great! I love to clean! NJ's clothes are getting harder to store so I moved them from boxes to space bags. There were the clothes that we brought NJ home from Taiwan in. All the memories of that flooded my mind and heart. I can hardly believe he was that small, all eighteen pounds of him. Putting his little clothes away made me remember all the times he wore all the cute outfits. He's growing too fast!  I went through piles and piles of our tees from trips that we've taken, trips our parents have taken, and some of our favorites that look like they've shrunk when we wear them. Plus lots of favorites that we can't fit anymore. It's always been so hard to let go because of the attachment of when I've worn them. Even some of Baba's shirts made me sad to see them go. Ones that I remember he's worn to weddings and special occasions. It's hard to let go of the memories, but I have to remind myself that it's just stuff. All I have to do is think about how much time I spent in the hospital to remember that I was ok without any of it. I had the people I love and that's all I cared about. 

NJ's school is right across the street from the local farmer's market. We always knew about it, but never got around to going. Finally today after picking up NJ, we walked over to check it out and had a really fun time. Now that we've been, we're wondering why it's taken us two plus years to go! We walked around, got some dinner, sat and ate and talked to the people sitting next to us. They had a beautiful Collie/Shepherd mix that was so friendly and sweet. Then the music started and we just sat and listened and people watched. The kids were running around still playing in the water, older couples were dancing in front of the band, mommies and daddies danced with their babies, and three cute elderly women line danced in sync. We could have stayed there all night it was so nice and relaxing. The weather and the night were perfect. 

"Cat rhymes with bat, rocks rhymes with socks!"

"Look Mama, I'm 40 pounds!"

Every morning he tries to come into our bathroom to get on the scale. And with the same enthusiasm (each time), he tells me: "Look Mama, I'm 40 pounds!" 

"New" Tricycle

Saturday we went hunting for a bike for him at yard sales, but we came home with a trike. I sold his craigslist one back on craigslist (it was rickety and a bit rusty) ,and thought it would be nice to move him up to a bike. We didn't see any bikes, just pink ones. Then I couldn't resist a good deal, this Schwinn Roadster for $10. How can you beat that?! Turns out that same day my neighbor says she has a bike for him, we just have to fill the tires with air. How nice! 

"Wow Mama, your shoes are cute!"

Good morning HOPE!

NJ sat with me instead of going downstairs to the children's ministry because he still had a lingering cough. He did pretty good even though he just about drove me crazy. He did his letters, numbers, drew trucks, cars, boats, and colored. 

Someone was tired and whiney and cranky. And another someone was also tired and cranky and needed some caffeine! 

Aha, I knew he was tired... NJ really knocked out!