A Humdinger of a Memorial Day Weekend!

Maliana ~

This week started with a nice date for you and I at Steak n Shake after your speech session on Monday. One of the many nice things about being a parent is slowing down and just enjoying being in the moment with your kid. On the way home we swung by Audrey Ayi’s and visited with her, hanging out in her backyard and taking her dog to the playground. You fell off the jungle gym while there, landing right on your butt (probably scaring you more than injuring you), but it was enough to extinguish your desire to climb any more. We walked back to her house to get you some water and ice. Not too much longer and you were feeling better.

it's amazing what watering flowers shirtless can do for
a hiney injury

You also ended up being Daddy’s motivator later in the week. When he did not want to go to the gym, you encouraged him and wanted to go too. That same night Daddy told me that you had cornered one of the really big guys as they were taking off their gear, curious about what he was doing and wanting to help, so he sat and talked with you for a long while, just you and him. Even big beastly men have no immunity to your charm.

We attempted a little gardening experiment this week too. I have wanted to do this for a while, but just haven’t gone through with it until now, basically because I have more of a black thumb than a green one. I figured you’ve gotten to a good age for a garden to be interesting to you, and if I can actually get this stuff to grow, it would be really fun to have some of our own homegrown food. We enlisted Lao Lao to help us with planting since she definitely knows a thing or two about gardening. She and Wai Gong used to have a HUGE garden in a field across the street from our house when I was growing up. We grew all sorts of things, and even rescued a baby bunny who had been abandoned. It’s probably this experience of having a garden when I was little, that has made me want to give you the same thing. We’ll see how it goes.

rehydrating with the neighbor kids before gardening

tasting the one (and only) strawberry this year

you are your father's daughter

I noticed that nearly all three of us squinch our eyes
tight when we smile...see the similarity in shape?
There's that read thread again I suppose.

"enough with the pictures, Mom!"

putting in the strawberry plants with Dad

With our new gardening project, we headed back to Menards for some extra supplies.

and we all had to wear our baseball caps backwards to the store
(per your request)

On the way home you began telling us some crazy and very animated stories. One was about a girl who was doing the hokey pokey while riding her bike and then got run over by a car; the next was about a girl who was chasing her dog who jumped over our house while chasing bad guys; and then even more stories later in the week included many comical variations of a “big big big monster” who had a “big big big cake” dropped on him. And of course, many of these stories began like this, “One day…and then…” and were told with grand hand gestures and very wide eyes. I love your developing imagination.

Holiday weekends are some of my favorite. Not just because we have an extra day off work and are all home together, but also because we get to spend time with people that we don’t normally get to see. We spent one day with the Wilkinson side of the family, (Daddy’s Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol and all of the cousins), at their cabin in the woods near Marietta, Oh. There are a TON of kids in this family and you jumped right in like you’d known them all forever, even though you’d just met a majority of them that day. Daddy and I got the biggest kick out of seeing you have so much fun all day long. We also loved getting to spend time with relatives that we hadn’t seen in a very long time, some of them nearly 10 years! There is an almost palpable, warm and welcoming feel with this side of the family so regardless of how much time had passed, Daddy and I (and obviously you) immediately felt comfortable and at home with everyone. I couldn’t have asked for a better kickoff to the Memorial Day festivities.

you insisted on wearing your explorer gear as soon
as you heard we were headed to the woods

celebrating Katie's 3rd birthday

and I thought the little kids were the ones we had
to worry about making a mess

shooting with Vincent

what a badass

the girls (L to R): Connie, Michelle, Christy, Memaw, Julie, me (Mama),
Aunt Carol, Wendy, and Beth

you pretending to take a picture of us girls with your toy
phone, yelling "Mom! Open your eyes!"

the guys (L to R): John, Larry, Pat, Papaw, Tony, Uncle Mike (holding
Katie), Daddy, Michael, Kevin, Brent, and Jake

heading down the lane for some water fun

soaking in the "cool tub" with Memaw

flirting with Christy while Abby fills your water balloon

ornery

racing Sammie down the hill

racing down the hill with Katie and Sammie

drivng the Kubota

you LOVED Sam!

reading books with Kate

Aunt Carol reading to you...must have been a
surprise ending

The Asian Festival was also this weekend and in spite of the stifling heat, we all attended. Memaw and Papaw met you, Daddy, Lao Lao and I down there and we strolled around and took it all in.

hiding behind Lao Lao's parasol

you picked out your very own hand-carved Buddha

arts and crafts

with a dragon boat

bubble tea!

We cooked out with Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina and since the pools all officially open on Memorial weekend here in Ohio, we hit the pools as well. That first swim of the season was hysterical. You were so excited, squealing and laughing as you got into the water. You are doing great in the water as long as you have your floaties, not nearly as freaked out if you go under, and are feeling so proud of yourself this year. I don’t think we could have wiped the smile off your face if we tried, the entire time you were in the water. You also have taken to saying, “Oh my gawwwsh!” repeatedly when you are excited, so needless to say this was a common phrase while you were splashing around the pool.

the pee pee dance

Audrey Ayi was dog-sitting Oliver for Mark and Jenny this weekend too, so she came over for a visit one morning and she and I surprised you with Timbits for breakfast. She’s been so busy with school lately so you were thrilled to get to see her and spend some bonus time together, playing “vampire” (your choice) and all of us walking Oliver.

And it was so hot...we just had to squeeze in a little more pool time this weekend.

there you are, the only kid at the pool with a snorkel mask

On Memorial Day, you began asking questions like, “Who died?” because you were noticing the plethora of pictures of cemeteries in the media. I was wondering exactly how to explain this holiday to you. So that gave us a good opportunity to talk about what Memorial Day is about, how thankful we are for all of the brave soldiers that have fought for and are still protecting our country, and also to share with you about your Great Grandpa Hart who was a Marine and pilot in World War II. Daddy and I also tried to take you over to the Field of Heroes in Westerville, a memorial with about 3500 American flags in a field, but unfortunately, it must have been taken down that morning. We’ll have to take you there earlier next year as it’s quite impressive.

It was also Papaw Rick’s birthday this weekend, so we met Lao Lao, Uncles Flint and Forge, Flint’s new girlfriend Monica, and of course Papaw Rick to celebrate. You insisted on bringing your new camera (I bought you a little digital camera recently since you are getting really good with mine), and you were cracking us up with your “documentation” of the party. Monica also got a huge stamp of approval from you too. You LOVED her. It was so cute to see you curl right up between her and Flint and get good and silly together.

with the birthday boy

posing them all kinds of different ways for your camera

no idea what was going on, but it was funny

you tried to take your own timer pictures of our group too...but
just couldn't quite get it to your liking and were hilarious. we
finally had to say enough is enough and put an end to
your crazed photographic shenanigans

Then finally, we stopped for frozen yogurt after dinner and you were in rare form. After a long and full of fun weekend, you were wound tight. As we left the yogurt shop, a shiny silver and black truck drove slowly by with a strong Latin beat blaring out of its speakers. You stopped dead in your tracks, scrunched up your face, stuck out your bootie, and started shaking your hips. Girlfriend shook it!. Daddy and I couldn’t help but bust out laughing, along with another couple who just happened to witness your little groove thang. You are awesome.

Cheers to a great weekend.

Love,
Mama

Grandparents are a BLESSING, but Icees are pure EVIL

Maliana ~

So, a fresh week calls for a fresh haircut. After several months of deliberation, constant attempts to tuck your hair behind your ear, your equally constant tugs of your hair back out from behind your ear, and elaborately cajoling you to allow me to put your hair in ponytails or even just barrettes (to no avail), I finally gave in and decided it was time for bangs. We headed to our favorite Miss Aimee who did her thing and voila! Bangs! It definitely took some getting used to, you look so different, but I am in love with the new look. You even exclaimed, “I look different!” upon seeing yourself in the mirror. But I definitely think it got your stamp of approval when I saw you do your wide-mouth grin, noticed you kept sneaking peaks in store windows as we walked by, and when we got home you called out, “Look at my new hair!” to your friends. I am so thrilled to finally be able to see your beautiful eyes again!

Another person who loves your hair is Ms. Jenny next door. She said she is so happy to not have to feel like she wants to brush your hair out of your eyes all the time now. We spent a lot of time outside with Ms. Jenny, Roman and Natalia this week and are so lucky to have such great neighbors. Natalia and Roman played with you quite a bit, and you just adore them. You have ever since you came home from China, excitedly squealing and leaping out of the car any time we’d arrive home and you saw them outside.

teaching you how to use the throttle on your
battery-powered police motorcycle

walking Oliver, and Mali(?)

you were a willing participant, so what the heck!

We also hit the local Farmer’s Market in Westerville this week too. It is a pretty sparse market, with not a lot to look at really. However, you managed to pick up some fresh honey, cookies, and a real maple (syrup) leaf lollipop to bring home. Plus, Uncle Flint walked down to see us too.

buying your cookies

we walked Uncle Flint back to his place before
heading home ourselves

I had to laugh at a couple things on this particular day as well. First, you yelled at me while at a stop light on the way to the market, asking, “Mom, are you texting?”…then…”Mom, you don’t text when you drive!” I was actually just setting the reminder alarm on my phone but okay, okay…busted. Where the heck did you learn that anyway?

And secondly, you have been skipping naps for a while now, making our transition after school a bit tenuous at times due to your grumpiness. However, on our farmers’ market day, you cracked me up. On the way home, I swung through Dairy Queen to get us some Dilly Bars as a treat, and in spite of being completely exhausted, you still managed to begin eating your ice cream. After about 5 minutes though, I looked in the rearview mirror where I saw you with your eyes completely closed and your head nodding something fierce, but still licking the ice cream! If I could have pulled the car over and filmed you, I would have. It was hysterical! You love your ice cream and even sleep isn’t going to get in the way of you enjoying that frosty treat!

I also have to make a side note mention of something that was pretty touching this week. For whatever reason, and completely out of the blue, you decided that you wanted to say a prayer for Uncle Dustin. Daddy and I were very surprised and moved, and joined you to say a few words. You have also been wearing these little green hair bands on your wrist as bracelets, ever since Dustin’s memorial. Aunt Lindsey had given you a green Donate Life bracelet of your own at his memorial, but since it was too big and kept sliding off, you took it upon yourself to dig up these similarly green hair bands to wear on your wrist and that fit you perfectly. It’s amazing to see the kinds of things that make an impact on you. You constantly surprise and fascinate me. Uncle Dustin would be so proud of you.

I loved our little moments this week too. Like your telling me stories about your friends at school as we drove home (“I like my tail shakin’!” – told to me as you wiggle your butt, and then – “My friends do that all the time!”); or the stories about China that you keep requesting from me as we lie in bed in the dark each night; or putting puzzle after puzzle together with you; or running with you in the jogging stroller as you point out which birds are robins (hey, you really are paying attention) with the day turning to dusk and showing you how the tips of the trees glow golden from the setting sun. I’ve never wanted to freeze time more than I do since you came along.

So, if our week was fun, you definitely kicked off the weekend right too. On Friday, Lao Lao picked you up from school with her friend, Sal. You were SO excited to see her as we’d kept it a secret so she could surprise you. She came to your tang soo doo class too, and you were more than eager to show off for her.

On Saturday, Daddy took you to another tang soo do class in the morning, and then we headed to the Founders’ Day celebration in New Albany. Koguryo Martial Arts had a demonstration there so we watched that, which was neat to see your instructors performing. Afterwards, we walked around the rest of the festival. It was SO hot that day, that none of us were feeling all that peppy. I also realized that I could probably never live in a hot and humid climate either. My body, and temper, can just not easily withstand hot temperatures for any length of time. Unfortunately, this little lesson was illustrated by what we are now referring to as the Great Icee Debacle of 2012.

Like I said, it was unbearably hot that day, and everyone must have had the same idea as we did because we waited in the longest line of the day to get our shaved ice and sugary syrup. Upon finally making it to the head of the line and finalizing our purchases, we attempted to get situated with our extremely full cups of icy cool relief from the oppressive heat. Of course, my first mistake was ordering a bright blue icee for you, and the second mistake was allowing you to juggle it while I got all of our stuff situated in the wagon. Two seconds after I heard the first “Uh oh!”…I heard another one and knew it was bad. I looked over to see you had dumped almost half of your bright blue (and fastly staining anything it came into contact) Icee into the wagon and all over the sheets we had brought to sit down on. The syrup was rapidly seeping all the way through the rest of the wagon and so we quickly scooped you up, trying our best to minimize the blue streaks quickly appearing on anything and everything we owned. Of course, you wouldn’t stand on the pavement because you had long since abandoned your shoes for some reason that only you know. Daddy finally “tossed” you over a fence to a patch of grass, where you stood watching as we scrambled to mop things up, with me and Daddy bickering with each other about how best to go about the clean up. To make things even more interesting, you then chose that precise moment to urgently grab your crotch and say, “I have to go to the bathroom!” Sadly, I must admit that I had a bit of a mommy meltdown at this point. I ordered Daddy to take you to the bathroom because if there was one more accident right now, I was going to be beyond p!$$ed. While you went to the bathroom, I got things under control and cleaned up, finding a nice shady tree and finally taking a break, not without muttering some choice curse words as I lugged the loaded wagon through the crowd. Luckily, I was pretty much feeling like myself again by the time you both came back from the bathroom. Upon your arrival, the first words out of your mouth were, “Daddy said you’re being mean.” I looked at Daddy questioningly, who sheepishly tried to deny it, saying, “I just said you were angry.” Eventually it came out that he had actually said that I was being mean in response to your asking, “What’s wrong with Mommy?”…but then later had added, “Mommy’s just angry.” I would have been offended, had it not been true. I was being mean, and I knew it. I lost my cool when I shouldn’t have. So, I made up with Daddy later, right there in front of you, with both of us owning up to our mistakes and apologizing to each other. I wish I could say that we never allow you to see us argue or have conflicts, but I’d be lying if I said that. However, we always make sure you see our resolutions, always make sure you see us work it out too. So hopefully that helps even things out in the big picture.

I recently saw a cartoon the other day. A picture of a mother holding her baby and it said, “I hope I can give you all the love you need and just enough dysfunction to make you funny.” Well my dear, I think we’re well on our way to that.

Oh, and did I mention that this particular day was also Daddy and I’s wedding anniversary too? Yep. 11 years. Happy anniversary baby. Ha.

this picture sums up how hot we all felt

your instructors doing a tang soo do demo

blue icee tongues

Once home from Founders’ Day, Daddy and I got ready to go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary while Lao Lao arrived to babysit. You were so stoked to have your grandma there, heading straight out on your adventure with her without a second glance to Mom and Dad. Daddy and I were able to enjoy a nice dinner with Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina (who were celebrating their first anniversary the very next day), without worrying about you at all. When we got back at about 11:45pm, you were still up and going strong. You had even convinced Lao Lao to make you oatmeal at 11:30pm (she’s such a sucker). While you wouldn’t allow her to photograph you (boo!), she recapped the night for us when we got home. First you headed to Inniswood Park where you brushed your hands through to smell all the herbs they have growing in the gardens, walked along the frog talk walk, found a huge pool of tadpoles, meandered along with a raccoon for a bit, and played in the water at the children’s garden. You then drove around Westerville, where Lao Lao showed you the Cherrington Rd. house I lived when I was your age, and finally ending at Rita’s Italian Ice where you had custard while sitting on the hood of Lao Lao’s car (which you thought was 'da bomb') and watched the night fall as the neon lights came on around you. Afterwards, you came home and put together nearly every puzzle in the house, then sat by the back door and watched june bugs, flicking them every so often when they’d land on the screen. The next morning, you even showed me how to smell our own bushes in the front yard, insisting they smelled like lemon. Ha. I am so glad you have a grandmother like Lao Lao. When we came home, and even the next day, she kept telling us what an absolute joy (her exact description) it is to spend time with you like that. And I’m so glad that these are the kinds of memories you are building of your childhood too.

On Sunday, we all needed to sleep in and thankfully you let us. Once we were finally awake, you and Daddy tackled the flowerbed outside, at least putting new dirt in it anyway. You were so proud of yourself to be helping with this big task, accompanying Daddy to Lowes and using your new gardening gloves and hand shovel. I love that you love to be so helpful.

I love that grin!

rock star gardening!

Later that afternoon, we got a call from Uncle Kevin that your cousin Joey had made it to the finals in her soccer tournament, which just so happened to be very close to our house. We went over to watch her play and they ended up winning the whole thing! Very cool to be able to see that, and you were so happy to see your cousins too.

focusing on the game

still taking it all in

with the champion!

now the other girls wanted in on the picture action too

We wrapped up our weekend by taking Memaw and Papaw out to dinner for their birthdays. We headed to El Vacquero by our house and for whatever reason you decided you just had to wear your monkey Halloween costume to surprise them. So, Daddy and I thought, “Oh, what the heck!” In spite of the crazy heat, you wore that dang thing all the way to the restaurant and definitely surprised them. I think Papaw was speechless when he saw a tiny little ape marching up to his table. Luckily, we had the foresight to make you wear shorts and a tank top underneath. We were able to peel you out of it before the drinks even arrived at the table. I swear, you are a character.

Mexican food + monkey costume = perfect sense!

Papaw was still speechless here

"say cheese" birthday boy and girl!

You were in rare form after leaving the restaurant, hyped up no doubt from a great time and getting to see most of your grandparents all weekend long. I’ve probably said this before, but when I was little I did not really grow up knowing my grandparents that well, if at all. So, I’m so glad that you have the relationships you do with yours.

Grandparents are such a blessing.

(But, I still think Icees are pure evil *wink*).

Love,

Mama