Opening Night!

If you've been wondering why my posts have been more lame than usual for a couple of months, theater is the reason. We open tomorrow night and it just can't happen soon enough. Don't get me wrong, it's been fun but it's time for an audience. I'm hoping my posts will liven up a bit next week when I may have more energy. Although I may need to actually break down and clean the house (blah). I'm signing off for the weekend while I play an upper class English woman, a blood thirsty knitter, a randy French tart and a very sad "guillotine-ee". Don't wish me luck!

(Erm, I don't really think I'm Helen Hayes, btw.)

P.S. I'm a bit nervous because I still don't have a costume for two of the big numbers. Do you think it's ok to just go on in a bra and petticoat?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by my friend Pat.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

As Read By...

This morning Buttons asked if I would read The Little Red Hen to her. I was on my way to the "water closet" and let her know I would happily read it afterward. "The words are easy for me, mama, so I'll read it myself" she told me proudly. I let her know she could read it aloud to me. As I'm sitting down, she pulls up a stool next to me and reads. Once finished with the "w.c.", we move onto the bed where I offer to read the rest. She thinks about it and tells me she'd like to read it to me, but would like me to hold it for her.

I wish I could make an audio cd of The Little Red Hen as read by Buttons. She had the phrasing down, the tone and the voices of the animals (which sound very similar to the voices I use) . You know the story, right? The little red hen finds a grain of wheat and asks the duck, the goose, the cat and the pig if they would like to help her plant, reap, carry, or bake it and they turn her down each time except when she asks who would like to eat it with her. After they all reply "yes", she responds "no, I'll do it myself". The take away message is of course intended to be if you don't help with the work, you don't get to help with the fun stuff at the end. After finishing the story, Buttons tells us the hen is not very nice to say no and she should have said "no thank you". We explain her reasons but agree that the nice thing would have been to share or at the very least not offer and then say no. I'm glad she gets that.

Just when I begin to think how grown up she is, she asks me to read it to her again, but I guess no matter what age we are, we always like having a book read to us. Snuggling in bed having her read that story to me before she marches off to school was certainly a gift to treasure.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Who needs a sweet treat when you have a daughter with cute feet?
Here are snippets from our day...
Buttons made a valentine at school that she couldn't wait to give us.
We gave her some bubble bath, silly putty, a "token" of candy, a hand made card and she thanked us profusely.
It was wonderful to see the pure joy on her face from these simple gifts.
We had fun and silliness making sugar cookies.
We sang songs, dance and twirled around the living room.
When Hubby came home, the two of them played hid and I was in charge of seeking.
I'm a lucky woman, guys.
Hope your day was a love fest too.
Currently, Buttons and Hubby are playing tag and there is much giggling.
Uh-oh...I'm it!

Wordless Wednesday

Currently this is a snow box, not a sand box.
Wordless Wednesday

Peace in the Midst of Chaos

I've never been accused of being a great housekeeper. If you came over to my house you would most likely feel you had some mad skillz when it came to keeping things tidy. I love my house to be clean and tidy, but I like going out and doing things with the family, knitting, blogging, watching a good movie, being involved in theater and hanging with friends much more than vacuuming.
Whew.
Now you know.

Lately though I'm feeling overwhelmed with the amount of crap in my house. Do I need all this stuff? Erm, no. So you say, get rid of it! Yeah, well another one of my issues besides collecting crap is that it all becomes sentimental or I feel that since so and so gave it to me, I have to keep it until the end of time. Then, if I finally get in a mood to get rid of stuff, it's all or nothing. I say to myself "well, if I can't get it all done today, I won't do any of it."

However, if I don't get rid of some crap, then I will be leaving Buttons a not so great legacy. I don't want her to feel like she has to keep everything, so I have to start showing her how to reduse, reuse, recycle, repurpose, regift, rummage sale or declare it rubbish.

Now, for the peace part. I've started Hubby's stocking and so far I like working from a chart. It reminds me a bit of cross-stitch (which I've virtually given up since I learned to knit) and I really enjoy how the rows change and then I can watch the stars take shape. Perhaps I need to apply these lessons to housework. I can't get the stocking done in one day, so why should I try to do my house in one day?

*Which reminds me of something a "great poet" once said:

Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away

*Yes, I'm a child of the '80's. Anyone know this "great poet"?

Do Not Try This at Home

For Christmas my brother bought us a digital picture frame and we finally purchased a memory card for it and set it up on our piano. We all enjoy it, but Buttons is really enthralled with the magic of the moving photos. After I took this picture I let her know this was not the way to sit on the piano, but isn't it just the cutest thing? I wish I were that limber.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

For the last four years (even before we met Buttons) we've attended festivities hosted by our adoption agency to celebrate the New Year. Some of the families we traveled with to China attend and we get a chance to catch up on each other's lives. While there was only a handful of families from our group there, we had a great time. Buttons was really into watching the dancers, laughing at the puppet show and then "grooving" with Hubby and me.

The celebration continues for 15 days and ends
with the Lantern Festival.
So break out the nian gao, sing a song, make a craft and dance!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

One of my all time favorite pictures of Hubby and Buttons.

Waxing Nostalgic

Maybe it's the whole underwear thing, but I feel like Buttons is growing an inch every day. This is one of my favorite pictures of her and was taken less than a month after we met her in China. I can't believe how small her feet were then and how big they look now. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited by her growth, her language development, her independence and did I mention wearing underwear? It's wonderful to see her grow into the personality we could all see from the beginning.

She's putting on her own clothes, she's helping to clear the table, she's using big words and singing "Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" (it does make her sound precocious). She received her first "report card" from pre-school today and it was wonderful. This was more of a developmental checklist and included things about sharing and knowing colors, so it probably won't be on her transcripts for college. The last time I picked her up from school, another mother told me that after asking her son who he played with the most, he said "Buttons because she's a silly goose". Yeah! She's making friends and using manners and just plain growing up... and fast.

Ok, so I couldn't wait to be done with diapers, but just the other day I thought to myself "I don't remember the last time I changed her poopy diaper and wiped her" and while I didn't get misty eyed, I was a bit sad. Perhaps I'm just a bit too sentimental. Nah...ya think?