between you, me, and the lamppost...

Robin Hood's Bay

2011-06-12T18:14:00.010+02:00

We took the kids for a day out at the seaside. We went to Robin Hood's Bay and had a fantastic day. Both Jay and I are continually amazed at how far Ben has come. He was the first one in the water. He was absolutely terrified of the beach in Italy and still won't swim in a pool. Also, he followed our little mountain goat Mary, scrambling up the rocks. He would have NEVER done this a year ago. I absolutely love to see his confidence grow.

We picked a pub for lunch and as luck would have it, there was a group of singers, singing Irish and American folk songs. Mary and Ben were both unsure of it initially, but, as you can see, the started to really enjoy it.

Traditional English seaside treat "Rock".

My Heart

2011-05-23T20:26:00.006+02:00

Mary is not a sentimental child. She doesn't like hugs or kisses. She's independent, which I love, but sometimes I worry that she doesn't realize how much we love her, how much she means to us. I want to demonstrate it to her with kisses and hugs and squishes and snuggles, but she doesn't like them. Even as a tiny girl, when anyone would try and kiss her she'd say, "Hey! Hey! Nooooo!"

So you'll understand that when tonight, she came back from swimming and said, "I'm glad you're my Mom and Dad. I think we're meant to be together." It absolutely melted my heart. I don't know what caused her to think of it, or the reasoning behind it, but I'm not asking. Just loving, loving this from my little daughter.

Aaaaannnnd...

2011-05-05T20:48:00.003+02:00

THIS is how Ben watches T.V. Jay lets him sit like this for hours. Such a patient Dad.

2011-05-01T20:46:00.002+02:00

This is how Mary watches T.V. Mary is a watcher, and has always been. In every aspect of her life, she sits back, observes, and then acts. I love this about her and I think it's what makes her so creative. You can almost hear her little brain processing information before she acts on it. I love, love, love this face.

Ben Learns To Ride a Bike

2011-05-01T20:39:00.005+02:00

Our Ben's learning to ride his bike!!!

He can ride a looooooong straight line. He just needs a little more confidence and he'll have it. He knows to brake before he wants to stop though, so, um, he's pretty much a genius.

Mary's Random Dance

2011-05-01T20:33:00.003+02:00

Mary performed this dance for no apparent reason. It came out of the blue, as in a random note sent home from school that was all, "Please give permission for your child___________ to dance blah blah blah.... So, it was a cute surprise and here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h16vD-Kencg

Easter

2011-04-30T10:18:00.005+02:00

First, these pictures are blurry because it was stupid o' clock in the morning and if I had to get up that early to super crazy children, well, your eyes are just going to have to suffer for it. It's only fair.

Here, instead of baskets, they give children a giant chocolate egg. I think some people do Easter egg hunts, but they don't dye eggs, etc. Jay and I and the Easter bunny all worked together to make it a multicultural Easter. That's right. Multicultural. Not because the Easter bunny forgot to sufficiently plan ahead and the Easter bunny's kinda lazy.

This is Ben's "egg" from the Bunny. A big, chocolate Car.

And Mary's was a little bear with three little eggs in with it.

Baskets(ish) from Mama and Daddy and Chocolate eggs from our neighbors.

Nom nom nom. (These pictures really are terrible. Gah!)

I totally made these. How cute are they and how amazing and creative am I? I completely agree.
So, the eggs. You can only get brown eggs here, so I was a little worried about how they would turn out. Jay and the kids dyed them while the Easter bunny shopped for Easter bunny things in the not Easter-ish heat, which made the Easter bunny irritable (all that fur is hot) and snap at the person working at Starbucks, but that's neither here nor there. The eggs! I think they look really great. I like the different colors made by the brown eggs.

Face Painting

2011-04-30T10:11:00.003+02:00

We went to a little Easter fair/fundraiser for the village playground. It wasn't very exciting, but they both had their faces painted which was so cute. Mary usually only gets a little one because of her eczema. It's still so cute though, right??

I know!!! Is that the cutest thing you've EVER EVER EVER seen?

Looking Forward to Ben Becoming a Rich Footballer

2011-04-22T09:59:00.005+02:00

How cute is this? Ben's so good at any sport with a ball. For example, an annoying politician was canvassing our neighborhood and came right into our backyard and harassed me about her policies, blah blah snore, even though I told her that we can't vote here and duh, I'm obviously American, but anyhooooo, about 15 minutes later, Ben hit his ball with his bat so hard it flew over the entire house. All we heard from the back yard was "OH!" Jay went out to see what had happened, and apparently this woman was walking back past our house and the ball almost hit her. *snicker*

Also, I apologize for the lack of sound but for some reason the sound won't transfer from my phone.

America August/September 2010

2011-04-22T09:15:00.014+02:00

Last September we were lucky enough to have our cousin Teasha come to visit us at my sister's house. We hadn't seen her since she was about four, so it was so lovely to see her again. Most of ~~the good~~ these pictures were taken by her.

Teasha, James and Evelyn. Soooooo, if you look closely, you will notice that this adorable calf has a different color body and head. Apparently, if a mother's baby dies they take the skin off of it and put it on an orphaned calf and the mother will then nurse it. I think. I may have gotten this a little wrong because I was pretty much trying not to puke.

See this dog? This dog is Stan. He is a vicious Pitt Bull. He's so petrifying that sometimes when the children color on him with markers, he gets up to go and hide. Also, when they sit on him and pretend he's a horse he totally rolls his eyes. And then there were the blood curdling moments when Mary was little and she would hold on to his collar, give herself dead legs and let him drag her around the house and he would just do it while looking at you like, "OMG why are you letting her do this to me????"

Mary riding a HUGE horse all by herself. I had to take a Xanax to watch this. For real. Even though her Uncle Dwight assured me she was safe, and even though said horse is approximately 400 years old...still...I mean....HUGE.

The kids helping to feed the cows. We would literally not see Mary from the time she woke up until dinner. She loved it.
How beautiful is this?

And this? Teasha took these and I think she's needs to do this professionally.

Mary getting ready for her death ride. Or finishing it. Don't ask me. I don't know, I was zonked on Xanax.

If you're wondering where Ben was, he was riding bikes and little cars or inside like a sensible person who does not have a death wish by jumping on giant animals.

We Pretty Much Have No Control...

2011-04-22T08:25:00.006+02:00

I present, for your viewing pleasure, a video of our beautiful, precious daughter. The light of our life. Our pride and joy.

Aren't her manners exquisite? I think someone should be checking the mail for their invitation to the Royal wedding. For the record, neither Jay or I smoke, so we are excused from any parental responsibility (forever).

This girl

2010-12-14T18:34:00.007+01:00

These are the first pictures we had of our girl. We received these in November and stared at them every day for over a month, waiting, waiting, waiting for that travel approval that permitted us to go to China and get her. We spent those days loving her little monkey hair, her sad, wise eyes, her rosebud lips. And, for me especially, her little crooked toes waiting to be bitten. Knowing her now, we know this is her tired face. She'd travelled two hours over bumpy, hectic roads by bus to have her photos taken in Wuhan. We know because we travelled that same route in reverse, to see the place where our daughter was born. A cold, poverty ridden place, full of round faced people who went out of their way in the bitter cold, to help us find the place where Mary was found. While Jay and I, stared with awe at the barren corner in front of a pharmacy where she was found in the middle of a cold December, Mary, nonplussed by the whole event, spent that time in the van on my brother's lap, shoving tiny bananas into her mouth as fast as she could. She had her priorities...and at that time it was bananas and her Uncle Andy. Our girl, and her amazing strength, evident even then.

I'm so proud of the girl she's become. She's a girl who stands for what she believes in. She is so strong and confident without being aggressive. She is the daughter my 22 year old/women's studies minor dreamed of raising. I love my daughter so very much. But more than that, I'm proud of her and I am proud of her spirit and the girl that she is. Happy birthday to our Middy.

Attempts at Christmas Ornaments

2010-11-30T22:16:00.006+01:00

Ben's school is having a tree trimming party on December 1 and he has to bring a homemade ornament. I mean... Come ON.

I went on Martha Stewarts website and found these:

Totally do-able right? Sort of.

Mary declared the wreath shape "boring" and made a car instead. I can't wait until she's old enough to be in charge of all of this craft crap.

Update: Took this to Ben's school and it lasted for about 2 days, so if you make them, use A LOT of icing.

Bonfire Night

2010-11-30T21:57:00.009+01:00

Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. We went to the neighboring village of Wilton to celebrate.

A random guy roasting marshmallows on what one can only hope is a new, clean pitchfork and has never, EVER been used to pick up poo.

Here's Ben. This is how Ben spent the night after his loving sister, while walking to the bonfire, said, "Now Ben, there's going to be fireworks and they are going to be loud and you might hear a big bang but... Don't. Be. Scared." She's nothing if not thoughtful, our Mary.

Ben's First Day of Reception

2010-11-07T16:45:00.006+01:00

Ben was supposed to start Reception (the sort of equivalent of Kindergarten) last September, but we kept him out. We just felt he wasn't quite ready and he was really thriving in the Montessori school he was in. But, he has to legally start school the term after he turns 5 or we have to apply to home school. The thought of home school literally makes me shiver in horror. Some parents can do it. I am not that parent. Fact. So off to school it is! This past Friday he started half day to get used to the routine. He'll go Fridays and Mondays until the Christmas break and then start full time. So here is the gorgeousness that is Ben on his first day of school.

The Tooth That Will NEVER DIE

2010-11-07T12:21:00.003+01:00

Mary has had a loose front tooth for, oh, I don't know, about 13 or 14 years now. I swear this thing gets loose, and then grows back into her gums. I know that's possible because I've never had a cavity so that means I'm practically a dentist. What? I don't know. Shut up. Anyhoooo, she finally came home from school a few days ago with it like this. Hanging over her top lip (Someone at school told her she looked like Nanny McPhee. Hahahaha! Luckily she thought it was funny and wasn't offended so Jay and I were able to laugh out loud). I was giving that tooth hours at the most. I was sure it was coming out before bed time. Nope. And I swear to you it has grown back into her gums again. What is that????? It's not nearly as loose as it was. Has anyone else had their children's teeth do this? Or should I be worried?

Halloween

2010-11-07T11:40:00.009+01:00

Last year we took Mary and Ben Trick or Treating around our village. It was lovely, lots of fall leaves on the ground, a big moon, clear, crisp night, but most of all...it was lame. There were hardly any houses that we could go to. Some houses were even decorated, but no one answered the door (there's a special place in hell for people who do that). Ben and Mary have never actually celebrated Halloween in America, so they had no idea what they were missing. They were happy because, Hey! Free Candy! But Jay and I know differently....

After hearing me ~~moan and complain~~ mention how sad our Halloween was, a friend invited us to their house and to go trick or treating in their little village. She lived in America for quite a while, so she enjoys going all Americany Halloweenish (I just made those words up. Surprised? I am a wordsmith!) and she said a lot of the people in the village do as well. We jumped at the chance. And I'm so glad we did. We had a fabulous time!

Seriously, I mean....

Tropical World

2010-09-16T21:27:00.003+02:00

At Tropical World in Leeds.

See that snake following Mary's finger? Every zoo type place we go to this happens to her. Whatever type of fauna we are gawking at, gravitates toward Mary. This exact same thing happens to my sister, too. Once we were at the Salt Lake City Zoo and some giant gorilla spent forever staring at my sister and putting it's hands up to the glass. I think he wanted to propose to her. Maybe this is what happens when your love of animals isn't negated by your active avoidance of their revolting toilet habits.

Man, your kids are cute...oh wait... I mean mine.

Catching butterflies. Butterflies are gross. Fact.

See these two? They love each other and they are SO. BAD. together. Can you tell??? I think Ben's sharpening his knife.

This is Alexander's (from the picture above) sister, who is Mary's friend. She's lovely and quiet. We had a play date with both of them not so long ago, where the girls quietly played horses upstairs and the boys...well, the boys...my eye still nervously twitching.

My Daughter is Probably Going To Make Us Super Rich

2010-08-20T16:51:00.003+02:00

Our Mary won FIRST prize at the Thornton Dale Show this year, for this painting.

She's a genius, if I do say so myself.

Ben's Sports Day

2010-08-10T22:21:00.004+02:00

Thank you to Yilan for taking these pictures, because we are super good parents who forgot the camera again.

Seriously...How Cute Is This Picture????

2010-07-13T20:14:00.006+02:00

I was looking through Mary's school website and found this "gallery" that I didn't know they had on there. Look what I found...possibly the cutest picture of Mary ...ever!

This was a charity race the school did for Red Nose Day. They had to run a mile. I'm pretty sure Mary's the happiest runner I've ever seen.

Happy, Happy Birthday

2010-06-21T14:06:00.007+02:00

It's my little niece and nephew Evelyn and James' birthday today. I can't believe they are four years old. Aren't they beautiful? This is what they looked like four years ago....

They were so tiny that they both fit into this little seat together. Your Aunt PP loves you with all of her heart. Happy birthday!!!

For My Friend

2010-06-13T15:51:00.004+02:00

This is my dearest, dearest friend Laura and I, in the 90's.

Could we BE any more tan? (See how I pull out the 90's Chandler Bing reference?)

And this is us not too long ago! Love you and miss you!!

Here Lies Werm

2010-06-02T21:14:00.004+02:00

Somehow (BENJAMIN!!! *said in a stern parent-ish voice*) a worm died in our yard the other day. Mary made it a headstone and a little grave on our outside table (that we EAT ON. GROSS) So, cute, until I made her put the worm back into the dirt so that it could "be with it's family" and she kept digging it up and showing me how hard it had gotten.

Here's the headstone:

"Werm has dide" "Max"

Here's the entire grave site:

I'm pretty sure I have a disproportionate amount of posts about worms on this blog.

It's All Johnny Depp Up in Here

2010-06-02T21:01:00.007+02:00

Tonight I got all Edward Scissorhandsy and decided to trim the hot mess that was Mary's bangs. Cutting Mary's hair is a nightmare; it's so straight and coarse and any mistake is glaringly obvious. So, yeah, of course I should cut it myself. I spent about 20 minutes trying to catch up to the initial chunk of hair that I had mistakenly chopped out from the side of her bangs. I'd cut a little, comb a little, cut a little, etc. Following the HCI2010 (Haircutting Incident of 2010), Mary looked in the mirror and deadpanned, "I look like Willy Wonka."

Aaaaaannnnddd... she kinda does...

Mary's Pet That's Not Really Her Pet but Her Auntie's Pet. What? I Don't Know.

2010-05-27T17:02:00.004+02:00

This was for a school assignment titled: My Pets

"I have a horse but it is not my horse. My Aunty has three horses. They like hay sometimes they like being ridden."

Now, we actually have two cats who apparently are not good enough for our Mary.

2010-05-09T21:04:00.004+02:00

We went to a friend's wedding last night. While Ben spent the evening on my lap like this:

He hates live bands and loud music.

Mary and her Daddy spent the evening dancing and making me die of absolute cutiness!

Mary Learned to Ride a Bike

2010-05-02T21:15:00.005+02:00

Here's our daughter, who learned to ride a bike after, like, two times trying. I think she's super amazing, but I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was about 13 and had to go to ball bouncing class in the first grade (true story). So, maybe as my dad says keeps telling me, "No, Portia, she's just normal"

Worms!

2010-05-01T22:10:00.006+02:00

We made a worm farm today. It's supposed to be a layer of soil, layer of colored sand, layer of soil, layer of colored sand and so on. That way, you can watch the worms move the colors around. But, in true Cason style, Mary dropped it after we'd filled it and it's all mixed up and I haven't seen any worms since. It may be more of a worm death camp but, ...we'll see how it turns out.

This is before it took a tumble.

Mary Cantering or Galloping or Just Going Really Fast And Giving Her Mama the Heart Attack

2010-05-01T22:02:00.005+02:00

Fact: Mary's way ahead of her class that she started her riding lessons with (her teacher told me, so it's not just my professional, unbiased opinion). She's the horsiest horse girl ever. She's doing so well that she is learning to canter and gallop. I absolutely don't know the difference but she's super cute doing it.

Boys Are Super Weird

2010-05-01T21:53:00.003+02:00

Ben thinks it's hilarious when Jay pretends to tie him in a knot.

Ben Tries Horse Riding

2010-05-01T21:27:00.005+02:00

Ben likes outdoorsy stuff about as much as I do. In other words, nature to people the likes of us is the walk from the car to the mall. Imagine my surprise when he asked for horse riding lessons. I think it was sort of a case of, after sitting through billions of Mary's, he felt like he had to see what the attraction was. So here it is... The pictures are pretty blurry because it isn't the best light, and, as I believe we've covered before, am not (justifiably) allowed to have a camera that costs more than $100, so...sorry.

Here's Ben getting ready. So cute in his helmet. Here's me all, "Are you SURE? Really, really SURE you want to do this?"

Here's where the panic starts in.

Here's the panic.

He became a little more comfortable after a while and sat up and gave me a "smile".

Around this point the teacher says to me, "Do you ride?" and I say "No I don't" out loud, while inside I'm like, "AS IF! You're not tricking me into getting on one of your devil animals" and then she says to me...for real..."We have some really nice horses, they use them for special needs children."

Hmmm...I'm not a child.

Ben decided that horse riding isn't for him. But yay for him for sticking out the entire lesson!

Someone Needs Karate Lessons or Should Possibly Join the NRA

2010-04-19T13:43:00.004+02:00

Ben's really friendly. Really, ridiculously friendly. It's just who he is. While Mary and I are kind of snotty and standoffish and Jay out-polites and out-quiets even the British, Ben's just out there. He's gregarious and outgoing and will talk to absolutely anyone. His teacher told me that he's socially gifted, which I think he is, but I want him to learn that there is a time and a place.

The other day, he was playing in our front yard and I went into the house for a minute and came out to find him on the side walk, talking to our neighbor, who we barely know. I had a super big freak out and dragged him into the house and now my neighbors think I'm crazy, but I don't like them anyway so hopefully I've offended them. As a result we've been really trying to talk through "stranger danger". I was trying to talk through different scenarios with him and I said, "What if someone came up to you while you were playing outside and said to come with them because they had some candy in their car for you? What do you say?" Without skipping a beat he enthusiastically and hopefully said, "Yes, please!"

Do you see my problem?

Mary Loves to Manipulate Her Mama

2010-04-09T09:28:00.002+02:00

This is on Mary's blog; but I had to post it here as well. I was on the phone one night, (those of you who are new may need to know this equation; Mama + the phone = Mary and Ben feel like they can do what ever they want) and she was supposed to be asleep but she brought this down. She knew I would think it was super duper cute and that it may buy her some staying up time (it didn't), but nevertheless, it is really cute. You have to click on it to see it properly.

Here's your translation:

1. One big ball
2. Then get a medium size ball
3. A little ball for his head
4. Buttons and eyes and a mouth
5. Hat
6. Scarf and gloves
7. Coat
That is how you can make a snowman.

Easter Tuesday

2010-04-06T17:17:00.000+02:00

That's right Easter Tuesday. Jay didn't get back from America until yesterday, so we had Easter today. I ~~am pretty sure~~ totally I have the authority to do that. Here are the pictures. Please ignore Mary's stoner hair. Apparently, instead of growing, her hair multiplies and I'm pretty sure she's going to have this 'do forever since she refuses to get it cut.

I looooove this. Such typical Ben and Mary.

I made this for them for Easter breakfast. It's pound cake inside a (obviously) new flower pot, then filled with ice cream, topped with cookie "dirt" (since it was breakfast, I blended frozen bananas instead because that cancels out the cake and cookies, and I'm all about the health). You stick a straw in the middle and then you can put your flower in. Ben refused to touching it, shouting, "DIRT! GROSS!!!" Kids are cute.

Ben's School Easter Party

2010-04-01T18:32:00.004+02:00

Ben's school had an Easter parade on their bikes (that we had to decorate. Yikes!) and an egg hunt. I brought my camera, but my camera takes horrible pictures ( not me, see...my camera) so I didn't get many good pictures. Luckily, a friend took great ones and gave them to me (Thanks, Jane!), so we have some super cute ones!

Here are mine:

He's so busy and so fast.

Looks like Ben's behind the whole parade, right? WRONG! Ben had lapped everyone, he was going so fast. I think we'll be ready to remove the training wheels soon.

Here are Jane's Pictures:

Matilda, Ben and Olivia with their "eggs"

I love these. He's getting ready to go!

This is my new favorite picture EVER. Such a perfect picture of our little Ben; I'm going to frame it.

In Your Face Crafty Moms (But Not Really)

2010-03-26T15:16:00.008+01:00

Last year, my friend, DeeSpit Pittsucker (that's what I called her in college. Her name was DeeAnn Pittman. Get it??? I think she really loved this nickname and I think she especially loved it the time I addressed a letter to her this way and forgot to put the stamp on it and she had to go to the post office as DeeSpit Pittsucker to claim her letter) posted a really great Easter vase that she did with her kids, and I was all, that looks easy enough (even though I'm a super craft dum dum, but I'm obviously in continual denial over it) and I'll try it next year. So here it is, next year, Jay's out of town and a friend invited the kids and I over for dinner. I immediately thought, "Ha!! I'll impress her with my stolen Easter craft as a hostess gift!"

So, riiiiigggghhhttt, there are no jelly beans or Peeps or the right size vases. But don't think that gave me the first hint that I should find something else. I went to a bazillion stores (For real. A bazillion) I ended up with a pretty vase, a trunkload of Cadbury mini eggs and ~~an old water glass from Ikea~~ a beautiful bud vase. First I put the little "vase" inside the big one a dumped all of the eggs around it. Then I put the flowers in to see what it looked like. I didn't like how they looked, so I pulled out the flowers and the little "vase" pulled out and all of the eggs went below the glass. So then I said a super big swear word and dumped it all out. I threw a little fit, then went back to try again. I got them in this second time, but there is no way it's going to make the car ride without dumping water all over the chocolate. I'm guessing it will end up looking like tulips and whateverthatpurplefloweris in a vase of floating rabbit poos. This is why I should just stick to things I can buy pre-made. But thank you for the idea, DeeSpit!

Hey, look it's me in the background taking the picture! Just like this guy. Don't click that link if you're at work or you're my Mom, or Mother in Law or you've just eaten lunch.

Update: I took the flowers and made Mary hold them while I drove like I was 80 years old while screaming at her to HOLD ON TO IT! TIGHTER!! But it totally made it and probably only a little of the water that was full of those weird crystals that they give you with the flowers, were on the candy that all of the kids chowed down on. I'm pretty sure they are health crystals anyway.

The Luckiest Mama

2010-03-22T22:08:00.000+01:00

Mary has a reward system at school for her spelling tests. They climb up a ladder and when they reach the top, they get a treat from their teacher's treat basket. The other day, I had lost one of my earrings, a pearl one; today, Mary came home and said that she was able to pick from the treat basket and she brought me a single, toy pearl earring.

I know, right????

Mary's Blog

2010-03-14T14:12:00.001+01:00

I've made Mary's little blog public and it's listed on my list of blogs. At first, it was only for grandparents and aunts and uncles, but since no one can seem to get on it, I've made it public. When looking at it, the first thing you should know is that she's talking about horses when she writes about "hos"; thought I'd better make that clear. And finally, beware creepy internet weirdos, I monitor who looks at it very carefully and I will totally turn your ISP into the police. (I may or may not watch too much Oprah). But for everyone else, enjoy the cutiness that is Mary!

I SERIOUSLY Need to Make Friends With Someone Who Can Sew

2010-03-11T21:02:00.001+01:00

Last week was World Book Day in the UK and Ireland; but in Mary's school, the two older classes had gone on some sort of trip, so they had it this week. The children were asked to dress as their favorite poetry or nursery rhyme character. Mary, so surprisingly, wanted to be a horse. I'm so not the crafty Mom and making a horse costume made me want to run away and join the circus, so we settled for the "Ride a Cock Horse To Banbury Cross" nursery rhyme. I ordered her a dress and bells for her shoes and rings for her fingers. The dress arrived and apparently it only came in 11 year old size, which was NOT listed on the order form. So, I threw a big pointless fit at the store that sold it and didn't bother telling me it was that big, and then got out my safety pins (my fellow moms, who are supah crafty, may want to stop reading here) turned it inside out, wadded up the waist and the shoulders and jammed the giant safety pins in. Whatever. It looked totally good because Mary is so unbelievably cute that she just made it look couture, which it is. Sort of.

What Happens To Princesses When Their Hands Fall Asleep

2010-03-05T20:45:00.000+01:00

Mary asked me today why, when her hand falls asleep, it feels "all sparkly"?

Lipstick Lipstick EVERYWHERE

2010-03-04T15:47:00.001+01:00

You never assume that Ben is upstairs playing nicely and quietly in his room with his train set. NEH-VER.

And don't even think that this wasn't that permanent lipstick that never wears off. Also, do not think that it was confined to his face. It's all over the bathroom upstairs. I don't what they've made it out of, but it's impossible to get off.

If I'm correct, I believe his Daddy did the same around his age only used it to draw pictures all over his Mom's sofa. Boys...sheesh.

I'm Not Asking Much

2010-02-26T22:35:00.003+01:00

I was talking with Mary tonight and she was telling me about how she's only supposed to go to the "Loo" at certain times at school; play time or work time, but not when they're on the carpet (teacher instruction time). I could tell everything out of her mouth was verbatim from her teacher. She's at such a lovely age. She's old enough to have in depth conversations, but she's still small and takes everything so literally. I was just looking at her little face, while this big teacher lecture was coming out of her mouth and wishing she would never, ever grow any older. I think all parents would love for their kids to stay small forever. As long as they could wash their own hair and drive themselves to school.

Ben is a Smarty Pants

2010-02-21T11:36:00.003+01:00

Mary's Circus and other Acrobatics

2010-02-21T09:06:00.006+01:00

Mary's teacher has been using The Circus as a theme for this past term. I love that her teacher does these things. The term before it was Toys and they brought in pictures or wrote about toys their parents and grandparents played with as a part of their history work. I think it's a really creative way to keep the children interested. This term their work on the Circus culminated in a circus performance for the class below them. Mary was an acrobat. I was disappointed we weren't able to go and see it, but here's a link to a little picture on the school newsletter:

http://www.thorntondaleschool.co.uk/schdocs/newsletters/TD12.02.10.pdf

In other daredevil news; Mary fell off of her pony yesterday at her riding lesson. She's only learned to trot so far; but her pony began to gallop and she thought that she still needed to raise up and sit down, but he was going too fast for her. I just heard the thump because I was keeping Ben occupied. I looked down and saw my baby on the ground and ran down to the side of the whatever-they-call-the-thing-they-ride-around-in. I totally don't think a good horse riding Mom is supposed to freak out, but I totally did. And, I left Ben up there in the stand. To be fair, I did say "Come on, Ben" and to be fair he did follow me and it's not very far, but I completely ditched him. It was just such an instinct to get to Mary. She was fine, and got back on and even did a little more trotting. She was pretty pale though and I know it scared her. I dread when she gets this pony because you can always tell it's a little feisty. On the way home, I asked her if she would be OK if they gave her that pony again next week and she said (in an exasperated tone because I am super dumb),"Mom, if you fall off a pony one week, the next week they give you a sensible pony."

While driving home from her riding lesson, I remembered the time my sister and I went with my Mom to one of my brother's high school rodeos. It was a week long thing in the town of Redbluff, Ca. Never been there? Give it a miss. My brother rode bucking broncos ( I know, right?). On one of his rides, my brother was hooked on to his horse somehow and the horse was dragging him along the fence. It was horrible. My Mom, of course, jumped up and flew down to the seriously-what-do-they-call-that-thing-they-ride-around-in? My brother was ok, if I remember correctly he was pretty scraped up but they took him by ambulance to the local hospital and my Mom got in her car and went with him. Don't even think that my sister and I, as grown ass adults, were soooooo indignant. What? We had no way of getting back to the hotel. And don't even think that we didn't complain for years about it, as it had confirmed all of our suspicions that she secretly loves Andy the best. So here is a big apology to my Mama. A huge, huge apology. Because now I know that you just GO. There's no ulterior motive, no thought process. Just pure instinct. (But, I still do suspect you love Andy just a teeeensy bit more!)

I'm Apparently Some Kind of Rare Royalty

2010-02-17T15:07:00.003+01:00

Mary is on half term break this week. She'd earned some money doing extra chores around the house, so we walked into the village to the shops and she chose to buy this little tea set. We came home and had some chamomile tea (which wasn't rubbish). She kept calling me "Your Honesty" as in "Would you like some sugar, Your Honesty?" I'm guessing she meant your majesty but I didn't correct her because it was super cute.

Chinese New Year in Manchester Kinda Blows

2010-02-16T20:51:00.004+01:00

I was thrilled to find out that Manchester, which is only 90 miles away, had the largest Chinese population in the North of England and a Chinatown. And then...they had a big Chinese New Year celebration that we could attend (read: I don't have to really plan anything). So, we got up at stupid o'clock, got the kids dressed and scrubbed up, got in the car in the freezing icy weather, drove to Manchester listening to lots of whining and found out that Chinese New Year in Manchester is really, really... lame.

Here are Jay and the kids at the arch to Chinatown. We're still optimistic at this point. Also, for some reason, Ben's been carrying around his piggy bank for about a week. I think he thinks we are going to steal his money.

There were very few people and not much going on so we bought some ~~overpriced crap~~ souvenirs.

Ben is the strongest child in all of the land. For real. So we had him play the authentic Chinese high striker/hammer game to win a Peppa pig doll.

Then, we wandered around in the cold, and then we were bored, and we kept asking when the parade was, and kept getting different answers. Finally, it became unbelievably crowded along the street, so we assumed it was going to start. I took Ben and muscled my way up to the front of the street because I've lived in Italy and totally have the skills now to push in front of anyone. Take that polite people. Jay who doesn't utilize his Italian skills (waste) stood in the back with our six year old daughter on his shoulders. This probably seemed like a good idea initially, but then we had to wait for over an hour for the parade and I'm guessing our little girl got pretttttty heavy. It was so c-c-c-cold and we had to wait for so long and I was getting ready to hand out some spankings to some kids (and a few adults) who were around us because they were making me insane. Ben held out really well because there were lots of trams going by and policemen to look at. So we waited.

And waited.
And we waited some more.
Ummm...enough. Right?

And finally...this was it. This was the "parade".

Why are they all white people doing the Lion Dance? That is a good question. I was wondering that myself.

Lame.

Following that amazing parade, we had to literally FIGHT our way out of the crowd through people who had no qualms over pushing my tiny little son and daughter and thus making me the crazy lady shouting "HEY!" at people in the crowd.

How tired is Mary when we finally sat down to eat? She loved drinking tea when we were in China, so I got her a cup. She hated it. The next day, we were having a tea party at home (more on that in the next post) and she said, "I hope this isn't the same rubbish you gave me yesterday at the resturnaunt" (That's not a misspelling, that's how she actually says restaurant and it's super cute).

Always a clown.

In summary, next year is going to be red envelopes and dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant. Lesson learned.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!!

2010-02-13T22:19:00.008+01:00

When I was little, my Mom would always put a Valentine's gift at our place setting at the breakfast table, so that when we woke up we had a little Valentine's surprise. I loved this and try to carry on the tradition with my children, but this year Chinese New Year falls on the same day, so I'm combining the two because the universe apparently wants me to and 'cause I'm super lazy.

Here I've set out Valentine's and Chinese New Year red envelopes for my beasties when they wake up. Jay started buying the bears for Mary before we brought her home and here's the latest edition. So. Cute. Oh...and also, that little box is a little, tiny piece of cake. How absolutely aaahdddoooraable is that?

I totally bought this banner, like, 4 years ago, so it probably says Happy New Year 2006 or something, but no one in this house can read it so... hahahahaha!! (P.S. Why is this a link? I hate you blogger.com)

Jay bought me these beautiful flowers today. Even though I've been a monstrous, hormonal beast the past week. Such the good husband. Mwah!

Annnnndddd...this necklace that I was admiring yesterday.

Annnnndddd the matching bracelet. I may just have to keep him.

Xin Nian Kuai Le and Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Mary Lost Her First Tooth and Maybe Gained a Dry Socket

2010-02-07T16:02:00.004+01:00

Mary has been determined to lose a tooth. Everyone she knows has lost teeth, except for her (or so she reports). So, she's been desperately picking at the gums around this poor little tooth for weeks. On Friday she came running in the house, shouting "I HAVE A WOBBLY TOOTH!!!" and I looked in her mouth and it was hanging forward, hooked on just at the front. I know it was probably a little loose that morning, but I've never seen a tooth go from a little loose to that. She put her school stuff down, went upstairs and came back down about ten minutes later with a gaping hole and a tiny little tooth in her hand. She pulled her own tooth out. I was so excited and so trying not to barf at the same time.

Snowman

2010-01-30T07:40:00.004+01:00

It's pretty good, right? This is all with NO help from any adults.

London!! Paris!!! Milan!! ( Just kidding, I hate Italy)

2010-01-28T22:05:00.012+01:00

My dearest friend in the whole world Laura came to visit over the first of the year. I went down to London to meet her for New Years Eve. We had booked a boat cruise on the Thames that promised fireworks and lots and lots of fun, but it was well....meh. I was so happy to see her that even though we almost frozeslashwereboredtodeath it was a good, good night. The next day we went on the London Eye and ate a yummy dinner (no small feat in England) and forgot all about the Jack the Ripper walk we were going to go on. Ooooops.

Here's the boat cruise. Don't these people bore you just by looking at their pictures. They do? I know!!!

Here's Laura in front of Big Ben. See her? No? I can because Mary and I have been reading the Where's Waldo books. Good luck.

Then....and this is the best part, we went to Paris. Our favorite place in the entire world (we're very unique like that). Mostly I just like to eat my way through Paris. Eat and eat...which explains why there are no pictures of me in this post.

Jay and our Ben at A la Choche d'Or. Jay and I went there on our first trip to Paris in 2001 and we were so happy to eat there again. So, so, sooooooo good.

So, the restaurant is right by the Moulin Rouge which we did not go to but merely passed by because it's full of nudie women who look much better than me.

Laura and I at the Au Lapin Agile.

Ben and Daddy in front of the Notre Dame. Ben looking at the pigeons. What do you think Ben wants to do to those pigeons. Hmmm...me too.

This place had the best hot chocolate. They brought out a cup of steaming milk and a little cup of dark melted chocolate and Ben and Mary mixed it up. So yummy. Except Mary put two sugar cubes in hers. Gross.
Ben with his chocolate mustache.

I put this in just because it is so very cute.

Mary at dinner our last night in Paris letting fries hang out of her mouth. She and Ben both ate steak tartare (a kid's version) for dinner, making their Granddad very proud.

Ho Ho Ho

2009-12-30T08:20:00.007+01:00

We had such a nice Christmas. Ben was so lovely. He was exactly like what you always imagine children to be on Christmas, all excited and full of wonder. That's how I like my children...to meet with my expectations exactly.

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. This turned into a debacle. First, because, of course, Ben is afraid of Santa and we had to spend days reassuring him that Daddy was meeting Santa outside and that Santa's bowl full of jelly would not darken our doorstep. Luckily, we'd been through this before with Mary as she also ~~is still totally~~ was afraid of Santa, so we had our plan in place. But, here's where we went wrong. We put the cookies on the table in the house. Idiots. So we then had to go through it allllllll again. Ben's not one to let things go easily. Secondly, we made the foolish mistake of only putting ONE carrot out for the reindeer when everyone knows there are....um, a lot of reindeer. This solidified how dumb our daughter truly believes we are. A simple, traditional activity turned into a 40 minute discussion. Next year, Santa's getting a Martini 'cause he's gonna need it.

OMG...Santa LOVED these little finger drums. I know because I heard him playing them forever while he was supposed to be filling stockings and wrapping presents.

Mary's DS from her Minnie and Grandad. Or as she calls it DSS. Spoiled!!!

P.S. I actually thought it was called a DSS until Jay corrected me. But, I think it's cute, so it's now a DSS. Spread the word.

P.P.S. Mary wants to grow out her bangs and this is why she looks like the kids in my high school who used to wear parachute pants, listen to Metallica and hang out behind the gym smoking cigarettes that smelled funny.

This camera is what Ben was sure Santa was bringing him. Luckily, Santa came through. However, Santa did not count on Ben taking 400 pictures and wearing out the batteries in one day.

This is our view of Ben on Christmas day.

Darla loves wrapping paper. Darla especially loves the ribbon. Or more specifically, eating the ribbon and then puking it up on our most expensive rugs. Merry Christmas to us from Darla.

Santa left his magic dust around his footprints in the snow. Mama is now really, really angry with Santa for this because cleaning glitter up from slush is impossible and Mama wants Santa to come back and make these disappear.

Look What I Found

2009-12-28T22:59:00.004+01:00

We were looking through the pictures on the Yahoo group for the people who've adopted children from the orphanage Ben was in (whew...that's a mouthful) and saw this picture. I knew immediately who it was (thank you to whoever posted this). When we first met Ben, beside telling us over and over how "active" he was, his nannies laughingly told us how he would use his little toes to climb up and crawl around the top of his and the other children's cribs. We never doubted it, as he still does it to this day to climb on to the kitchen counters, but here is the evidence.

How amazing and how spirited is our little boy? Look how tiny he is. He's not even two years old yet in this photo.

Ice Skating

2009-12-26T15:26:00.006+01:00

We took the kids ice skating in York. And by "we" I mean Jay. I'm lucky to be able to walk upright at the best of times so I sat this one out. I thought that Ben would be so outta there once he got on the ice, he's not usually all that great about new experiences; but he stuck it out for 45 minutes and did really well. So cute.

Mary skated on her own pretty much once they got out there. She absolutely loved it. It's only open for another week, so I don't think we'll get a chance to go again. We'll have to look for another rink nearby.

The Williamson's Visit

2009-12-26T15:09:00.002+01:00

Our friends from Cornwall came last weekend to pick up their son Tom, who is going to the university near us. It was a short visit, but we had lots o' fun as always. We went out for Chinese food in a huge snowstorm. Well, not huge by Utah standards, but huge by England standards.

Here is Tom. Fact: Mary and Ben LUH-HUV Tom and spent all of Thanksgiving day rubbing their heads on the condensation on the French doors in our living room, trying to get their hair to look like his. Also, Tom is about 8' 10" ( I may be exaggerating, a little) but Ben spends a large part of his day standing on stuff and saying, "LOOK, I'm like Tom". Stalkers.

Here are Trev and Mary. They've been kindred spirits from the minute they met when we first brought Mary home. Here's Mary bossing Trev around and eating all of his food. He looks a little afraid I think.

We left the restaurant and had a little snowball fight and took turns pushing each others cars out of the snow for the next two miles home. It was good seeing them though and look forward to the next visit.

Mary's SIXTH (gulp) Birthday

2009-12-15T20:59:00.010+01:00

I'm in total denial that my baby (MY BABY) was six years old yesterday. Six...you can't even pretend they're one-part-baby, one-part-kid. They're no part baby. Waaaaaahaaaahaaaaa. But, she did have a fab birthday party with all of her friends. It was really cute and she had a really fun time and scored tons of presents. TONS.

Ready for her party.

They made a birthday plate, with Mary's handprints and the fingerprints of everyone who attended her party.

Look how little Ben is, braving that gaggle of giggling girls. So cute!

Salt Dough Ornaments

2009-12-15T20:20:00.004+01:00

We made salt dough ornaments the other day. I remember my Aunt Lois making really cool ones when I was little; these...ummmm were more rustic than hers, but we had lots of fun. The next morning we painted them in our pyjamas so that I could through them straight in to the bath. (The kids, not the ornaments).

I'm obsessed with matching pyjamas. It drives me bananas if pyjamas are mismatched. Ben, clearly, does not share this quirk of mine.
.

Shine Star Shine!

2009-12-10T20:40:00.008+01:00

Mary's Christmas play, Shine Star Shine! was this week and she was adorable (duh). The pictures are horrible and all the children look as if they have demon eyes, but just pretend they are Christmas-light-eyes; that's what I'm doing. Jay videoed the entire thing for the Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles (they'll be in your Christmas boxes) so this is just a little sample.

A Christmas Miracle

2009-12-10T08:36:00.004+01:00

Before we left Italy, the movers packed up Mary's blanket, "Big". (You can read why Mary just has the best Dad EVER here) She had a replacement, (You can read how Mary just has the best Auntie EVER here) but was still looking forward to finding the original when we unpacked. However, it never turned up. We figured that it was either in one of the boxes we hadn't unpacked or the Italian movers were busy smelling and tapping her Big in their beds at night.

Jay went out to find the base for the Christmas tree ( the fake one that I hate but that saves me the hassle of watching Jay constantly turn off the lights every time I leave the room to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom, so "the house doesn't burn down") and VOILA found the original Big! See how she immediately began tapping it and making her little sucking thing with her mouth even though it was soooooo smelly. So cute! Now it's washed and she has a Big and a spare. So lucky!

Christmas Fair

2009-12-08T20:28:00.006+01:00

Last Friday was the Christmas Fair at Mary's school. I totally helped out and helped organize and tag about thirteen millionty things for the raffle (or tambola as they call it here), so, even though Jay was working and I had the kids on my own, and it was a Friday night and I was beat, we were going and we were going to have fun.

As you may recall, my kids think Santa is scaaarrryyy. My friend, Sandy, thinks it's because every time I see a Santa, I shout, "he looks like a PERVERT!!!" (because he so usually does and if you'd had your back rubbed several times by Santa, you'd be a little wary; but that's neither here nor there). Whatever the reason, I thought at least Mary would be all right this year. She'd talked about Santa, written him a letter, etc. etc. But as soon as we walked into the fair, Santa/Father Christmas walked by, hooded like the grim reaper, clanging a bell, and looking so unbelievably creepy, I almost ran out of the building. It was immediately over for Ben. He spent the evening putting my hand to sleep with his death grip on it and looking around every corner, wide eyed and terrified, for The Santa. Mary just refused to go visit him. Even though he had presents. Even though her friends were visiting him. Even though the aide in her classroom was Santa's "Elf". Just. Wasn't. Going. To. Do. It. After spending two long hours at the Christmas fair, her little friend, Charlotte, who may be the cutest little girl in the world after Mary, convinced her to go visit Father Christmas by saying she would go with her. Mary still looked a little suspicious as you can see, but she did get a really good present so she allowed him to talk to her. I like my daughter's discerning attitude since, because of the hood, I couldn't tell if he was a pervert or not. Probably was.

Here's the only part of the fair Ben liked: The Tattoo stall. Like daddy like son. He spent about three pounds on these, but it was totally worth it because they won't wash off and he still looks like a tiny hoodlum.

Just Because They're Cute

2009-11-29T20:36:00.003+01:00

Mary and Macchia today

Mary and Macchia a long time ago...

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T17:46:00.005+01:00

This Thanksgiving I ordered a free range- organic-fed-caviar- and- spring water turkey. I picked it up from the local farm shop, handed over my first born as payment, brought it home and tried not to throw up. It was full of pin feathers. A few here and there, I can deal with, but they were gabillions, all over the breast, the legs, the wings. I'm totally that person who pretends meat is born in the back of the supermarket, gently placed into little Styrofoam trays and bundled up quickly in clingfilm. So, as I'm plucking the Thanksgiving turkey (did I mention the feathers were everywhere?) and trying to keep my breakfast down, I'm thinking, that yeah, it's good that this turkey had a lovely life and probably died a happy death, but IT BETTER TASTE REALLY, REALLY GOOD. And, guess what, it really really didn't. It was dry, stringy, tasteless and I HATED it.See... you try and be a good person... Next year it's back to Butterball.

Other than The Turkey, it was a nice day. We kept the kids home from school, so we just played games and argued all day. Just like the Thanksgivings of yore. Jay went and picked up our friends' son Tom, who's going to the university in York and he came and ate with us. Then later we lay around and moaned about how sick we felt. See...pretty perfect day.

Here's some pictures:

What Mary Taught Me Today

2009-11-27T08:15:00.003+01:00

Mary has begun writing stories in her little notebook. Yesterday, she was writing a story about how one of the little girls at school was mean. I said to her "That's a good way of expressing your feelings." After a pause, she looked at me and said, "Or to remember."

Ben's New School

2009-11-25T20:20:00.004+01:00

We've had a bunch o' drama at Ben's preschool. I won't bore you with the details (except those of you I've already bored with the details) but I will say that I think there is a fine line with Developmentally Appropriate Practice programs. I just think a lot of the time it turns into a "do whatever you want because ~~I can't be asked to find activities to challenge you~~ you are learning through play. I definitely see the value of developmentally appropriate activities and free choice; but they are supposed to work as a sort of scaffolding; as the child masters an activity, they are given more challenging activities to choose from and they build their skills on these foundations. This was not happening, and I think we would have been more accepting to this sort of playgroup atmosphere, had he been younger, or had a different background, but, he's had almost three years where no one really cared what he did, or thought about what was best for his development. Additionally, he starts primary school next September and we felt that he needed more support.

Anyhooo....we've found this fantastic Montessori preschool in a town nearby. We pulled up in front of the school and it was a beautiful huge, sort of haunted looking house. (You can see it here) We walked in and, I swear to you, it was the most peaceful school I've ever experienced. It was just so very calm. The children were all working on activities on their own or quietly in groups. The director took us around and we were in love. It was so amazing, like if you could dream up your ideal school. They have a science room, an art room, etc. etc. The children, while all doing their own thing, were all very respectful and calm. The teachers were really respectful of the children as well and everything was just so, well, again, calm. I wanted to go back to school there, or just live there and have the director take care of me.

Ben's going to school there two afternoons, and hopefully as more space opens up, in the mornings as well. We're keeping him in the other preschool part time as he has a BFF there and I don't think they can stand to be separated; they're very cute and very beastly together!

Here's Ben yesterday on his first (trial) day at the Montessori.

He did really well. Jay took him again today. We've had to stay both days, but I think he'll be more adjusted next week.

I KNOW!!!

2009-11-21T19:52:00.002+01:00

What is cuter than a little boy, fresh out of the bath, in his snugly robe????

A Mother's Betrayal

2009-11-05T14:18:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I took Ben to the doctor to sort out his immunizations and to make sure he had a UK up- to- date record. I was told to do this by our health visitor about 5 months ago, but I didn't think they were due until December and well, I'm slooooowwww. Jay was at work, so I took both of the kids with me. Mary, as I think I've mentioned, is obsessed with shots. Throughout the entire drive there, she kept telling him that he wasn't going to get any shots. which was of course getting him worked up, so I kept reassuring him that there were going to be no shots. I mean... as far as I knew, we were just going to get his record straight, so of course we get there, the nurse discovers he has two immunizations that are due and proceeds to whip out the needles.

He was very brave, but as I was talking to my Mom on the phone later that night, he wanted to talk to her. He took the phone and said, indignantly, "Mama said no shots... TWO SHOTS!"

Mary's Favorite Color

2009-10-31T21:16:00.005+01:00

At the beginning of the school year, we told each of the kids that they could pick one activity. They're so little and I really can't see running them to a million different activities quite yet. They both get swimming lessons, because I think those are definitely a necessity, but other than that, we'll take it slowly. Ben didn't know what we were talking about, so being pushy parents, we picked gymnastics for him. He's a gymnastic fool; he can already do forward flips without using his hands. However, there's apparently a huge waiting list for gymnastics here so we're on the list. Mary picked...you guessed it...riding lessons. Horse riding lessons. I think horses are right up there with home invasions on the scariest things EVER, so I kept trying to convince her to pick ballet, but...nope.

Her first lesson was a private lesson. She had a tiny, little, fat white pony named Twilight. Twilight looked like he would rather be back in the stall watching a football game and having some oats and a beer, so that eased my mind a little. Twilight begrudgingly plodded around the ring , while Mary sat up on him very serious and super cute. When she was finished she was absolutely, completely, undeniably in love. I remember reading about those girls when I was young. Those girls whose first love was a horse; Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka. But, I couldn't imagine real girls did that. And then there's my daughter. She got in the car and as we were driving home, asked me, "Do you know what my favorite color is?" I said, "Pink" (that's what it had been for the past ummmm...forever). "Nope," she replied, "It's white". Three guesses as to what color Twilight was?

Her second lesson was a group lesson. The children were all on leads, including Mary. One of the instructors had to hold two ponies, but when it came time to ride in and out of the poles, the instructor let Mary ride all by herself. She was the youngest as well.

Mary's School Disco

2009-10-21T20:17:00.010+02:00

Mary had her first school dance (or disco). What? We didn't get those until we were in 6th grade; when we were 11 and could properly judge our fellow students' clothes and dance skills (maybe that was just me). What does a five year old do at a school disco? I'll tell you what. Scream. Scream until your parent's ears bleed and they have to leave no matter how much they want to watch your first school disco. We took some video to share the screaming, but can't get it to load. Too bad for you and your virgin ears.

It was actually really cute. The "DJ" played music and had them play little games. He was really great, and I'm assuming, probably more than a little deaf.

Mary got a new dress, shoes and butterfly clips. Jay and I went shopping while she was at school which was scccaaarrry because Mary likes absolutely nothing that I pick out. Nothing. But luckily this passed inspection and how cute is she?

Zucchini Idol

2009-08-21T19:13:00.005+02:00

So we planted a zucchini plant. ONE zucchini plant. And that ONE plant has produced four-hundred-and-eighty-millionty zucchinis. Seriously. I pick a whole bunch,walk into the house, put them in the sink, walk back out and 50 more have replaced them. Also, I can hear it snickering at me as I walk away. I hate that plant.

But, since I grew them my very own self, I have to use them.; so we grilled them for a while. Then, we let them grow to see how big they would get. They got really big, and that got boring. Then, I made zucchini bread. Then, I made some more zucchini bread...and frankly, enough of that. Tonight I made zucchini pancakey things. I gave one to Mary and she said, "I like it, but I don't love it, so...(insert dramatic pause)...I'll give it a nine."

Sick and Tired

2009-07-09T08:07:00.002+02:00

Following Mary's POX, Ben developed a sore throat and a fever. Here it comes, I thought; dreaming of spending the millions I was going to make after suing whoever invented the Varicella vaccine. However, Ben went to sleep that evening and woke the next morning as healthy as ever. Which totally confirms my suspicions that Ben is a superhero; one who rarely sleeps, has an overabundance of unnatural energy, and now, is apparently immune to illness.

Meanwhile...back at headquarters, Mary, Jay and I came down with a fever and sore throat. We made a big giant family doctors appointment where we all went in, one after another, and the doctor factory style, pronounced, "Tonsillitishere'syourprescriptionforpenicillin". I'm waiting for them to come along and paint a big, red "X" on our front door.

See This Gorgeous Twosome?

2009-07-04T23:33:00.004+02:00

They've been staying at my Mom and Dad's for the weekend and I've talked to them billions of times and I miss them so much! They call me Aunt PP. They made that up themselves. I keep trying to convince my sister to bring them to me, but she's six months pregnant and doesn't want to fly 11 hours with twins. Weird.

P.S. See how Evelyn has a Starbucks drink? That's because she is an Auntie PP in training.

The Pox

2009-07-01T15:19:00.009+02:00

The Sunday, My beautiful little daughter woke up with a sore throat, stiff neck and a red rash necklaced around her collar bones. Going straight for the worst case scenario, I was sure she had meningitis. Jay's in the States for a week, so I called my poor mother in the middle of the Californian night, waking her, babbling about rashes and clear glass tumbler tests. My sensible mother told me to take her to the doctor; so I looked up the closest emergency room (see what a good parent I am...I wait until there is a crisis to find out where the emergency room is) and shuffled both kids off into the car. Now, I'm not only panicking about Mary, I'm worried about using the National Health Service here. When we'd lived here before, we'd had the American military services to rely on so my experience with the NHS has been minimal. I'm picturing waiting hours reaching into the double digits, while my daughter continues to get more meningitis-y and Ben tears it up.

We reach the hospital and it is positively ghost town- quiet. Apparently, the nurse at the off hours office liked it that way, as we got an icy reception and a grilling about why we hadn't called first. See, first NHS lesson learned: CALL FIRST so you don't irritate the nurse who is sitting around eating a sandwich, by making her actually have to type your information into the computer.

She finally took us back to an exam room where she took Mary's temperature, snapped at me when I asked what it was, and then disappeared to find the doctor. The doctor came in, looked at her back, where apparently the nurse had found a few spots and said, "I think you're right, it is Chicken Pox." Chicken Pox????!!!! CHICKEN POX???!!! "She's had the vaccine," I told them. They looked at me like I'd grown an extra head (they don't give that vaccine here, so I'd probably just confirmed all of their suspicions about how dumb I really was) . The doctor just kept talking as if I hadn't said anything, telling me to make her comfortable, etc. etc. I was relieved and dumbfounded at the same time. Glad it wasn't meningitis, but what...? Why put my little baby through jabs in the leg if it doesn't really work? I know, I know...I'm not one of those anti-vaccine Moms, I was just upset about my baby.

Apparently, my Mom researched it, and it happens to 2% of children who get the vaccine; so, we're just looking at it as our girl really is special. So special she's covered in spots. She's finally feeling better today. She breaks my heart when she's sick because she's just so quiet. She's just been laying in our bed and we've been coloring and playing board games. Also, I'm going to have to give a big shout out to all-day cartoons. What did parents do before that? Nightmare. But today she's been bossing me around and fighting with her brother, so it looks like our little girl is back.

Happy Family Day To Our Ben Ben

2009-06-25T22:02:00.011+02:00

Our vivacious, funny little boy. One year ago today you came bounding into our lives. Turning everything topsy turvy with your sense of fun, your endless- Labrador- puppy-energy, your charm and blatant cheekiness. You've accomplished amazing things in one short year. We've laughed together, cried together and been frustrated and overwhelmed together. Your determination and the spirit and enjoyment for life you keep with you throughout any diversity has been a lesson for all of us. You have the kindest little heart of anyone we've ever known and we are a better family because of you. We love you so, so much our Ben Ben.

We love you,
Mama, Daddy and Muurrry.

Our Daughter's A Genius

2009-06-24T22:03:00.006+02:00

Our gorgeous baby learning to read.

Don't die of cutiness.

SUPA STAR OF THE WEEK!

2009-06-23T15:51:00.006+02:00

Two weeks ago, Mary was Star of the Week TWICE!!!! Once for good work, and once for having good manners during lunch time. Yay Mary!!!! We're so proud of her! Here's the link to the newsletter:

http://www.thorntondaleschool.co.uk/schdocs/newsletters/TD12.06.09.pdf

Gardens Only Confuse Children

2009-06-19T22:48:00.008+02:00

So, Jay and I have been spending days, hours upon hours, minutes upon...well you get it, in our enormous, immensely overgrown garden. It looks so fantastic and I would totally post pictures except someone, whose name rhymes with "Hen" broke our camera.

The kids are, obviously, out with us while we are digging up this jungle and we have to repeatedly warn them about the nettles, because if they get stung, we have to machete our way out of whatever patch we are in, stop the world and baby them for like, the next forty hours. So Jay and I are constantly shouting, "DON'T TOUCH THAT! NETTLES!", "PUT SHOES ON! NETTLES!". Both Ben and Mary now think nettles are the absolute scariest things on the earth. The other night, I made a salad for dinner that had rocket (or arugula or whatever it's called wherever you live, I've had to call it so many things that I've forgotten what I call it my native language) in it. Our poor little Ben looked at the rocket leaf and shouted, "OH NO!! STINGING NETTLE!"

I'm not going to think too carefully about the fact that my children think I feed them things like cat food and stinging nettles.

Ben's First Party

2009-06-09T20:24:00.006+02:00

Ben was invited to his very first birthday party. Children's birthday parties are right up there with my favorite things to do. Right after getting my legs waxed and cleaning my oven. All the drooling chocolate and pretending other people's kids are cute when really you're thinking that your kid is a SUPERSTAR compared to the rest of them. But, it was really cute that Ben had his first party invitation and I knew Jay had the day off to go with us, so I sucked it up.

The invitation arrived in his backpack from school. I had absolutely no idea who the child was, how old he was turning, etc. but there you go. I decided to buy a generic present for a child I'd never laid eyes on, of an indiscriminate age,who I was hoping was a boy. It got books.

Here he is with his present. How cute is he? He doesn't even know where we're going, but he's Ben, so he's just happy to be going somewhere.

I didn't get many pictures because no one else was taking pictures (not even the birthday boy's mom, but whatever) but I had to take a picture of this. They play a party game here called "Pass the Parcel" where a gift is wrapped in many layers of paper and they pass it in a circle while music plays. When the music stops, whoever has the parcel unwraps a layer. Can you imagine what Ben thought? He didn't understand why he was unwrapping nothing. And he definitely didn't want to pass a perfectly good present to a complete stranger. His face was priceless. They aren't very good pictures, but it was so funny. He did unwrap it last though, so he won the prize and will be really confused next time he plays it.

He had a fantastic time and didn't want to leave so it was definitely worth it.

If You Give Mary a Two Pound Coin

2009-06-09T08:49:00.006+02:00

Yesterday was Mary's first school field trip. She went with her class, on the bus, to the Sea Life Centre in Scarborough. Honestly, I don't think you ever really have to take kids anywhere, just the ride on the bus always seems to be the most exciting part. I had her backpack filled with her lunch, hat, spade and towel for the visit to the beach after, etc. I put a two pound coin in her pocket and told her that it was for a "just in case" situation. Here's what ensued:

"Are they going to ask me for it?"

"No, it's just in case you need it."

"What if they ask for it?"

"They're not going to ask for it. It's for you, just in case you need an extra drink or something."

"What if I drop it? Will a man pick it up and give it to me? Or will he keep it because some people need money more than we do? Like some people need clothes because they don't have any."

"If you drop it, it's o.k."

"Someone will give it back to me?"

"Maybe, but if not, it's o.k."

"What do I have to buy with it?

"Nothing. It's just there in case you need it."

"Should I give it to my teacher?"

"No."

"What if she asks for it?"

"MARY, she's NOT going to ask for it. NO ONE is going to ask for it. NO. ONE."

"But if they do, should I give it to them?"

Dalbyology

2009-06-08T10:45:00.002+02:00

I took Ben and Mary to the Dalby forest yesterday where they had an event called "Dalbyology". They both had a great time, making rabbit masks, their own paper and dinosaur finger puppets. They also entered a drawing contest for the Butterfly Conservation organization. You can see their pictures here. In the middle of Ben's picture is my attempt to show him how to draw a caterpillar. He wasn't very impressed and I think his is cuter anyway. Mary TOTALLY should've won with her butterfly because it has a wry smile and what's better than a butterfly who is judging you while you look at it?

The Monstrosity We've Inherited

2009-05-27T20:17:00.016+02:00

My sole reason for writing this post is to make my brother and sister gnash their teeth in horror and weep in sympathy. They will see this dreadfulness that is the garden we've got and say to each other, "We can sort that out in a weekend. No problem!" Then they grab their rakes and their digging things and cutting whatits and hop on a plane, fly over here and I can watch reruns of Frasier and sip wine while they fix this freakishly overgrown yard. See, what you don't know is that my sister and brother love the nature and the outside and the fresh air. Whereas that genetic trait saw my little embryo and ran the hell the other way. So without further ado...here IT is...

Looks OK, right? Well, this is just the beginning my friends. And it only looks like this because Jay has used his "brute strength" (his words) to weed the gravel around the beds and the pathway.

Here's what most of it looks like. Some of it looks a bit neater because ~~my hippie, Wiccan neighbor came over to help and did most of the digging out while I pretended to pick weeds and went for drinks of water and bathroom breaks~~ I weeded it with the help of my neighbor.

I HATE YOU FILTHY, SNAIL POND.

Here's where it starts to get ugly. Real ugly. Again, this looked a lot worse before yesterday when Jay dug up all along the greenhouse with his brute strength.

What the... have I stumbled into the lost gardens of evil?

There are 6 raised beds for planting stuff in. Jay dug three of them up so far and this is what they look like. Look! I planted some stuff. I like this bit of the garden.

These are two that haven't been dug up. What? You can't tell. What's that you say? You can see Tarzan in there?

And just really, REALLY push me over the edge, I keep coming across these bisected pigs filled with dirt hung all over the place. It's like a horror movie. I keep chucking them out and they keep appearing in weird places. I think they're reproducing at night while we sleep.

Ummm...What?

2009-05-24T09:01:00.003+02:00

Every morning when we get up, Ben shouts at me, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!" So cute and so random.

I Love These

2009-05-22T21:51:00.007+02:00

Ben's our little photographer. He adores the camera. Well, he adores any kind of gadget. He had the camera one day and took these of himself.

After each picture, and this is a mere sample of the gabillions he took, he would turn the camera around and say, "LOOK, BEN!" Literally. Everyone of them. I'll tell you, this little boy makes us laugh so hard.

No Uniform Day

2009-05-21T18:06:00.006+02:00

Today Mary's school had a day where the kids didn't wear their uniforms. As a fundraiser they were asked to wear something that had to do with activities outdoors and were fined a pound for not wearing their uniform. Mary wore her cute little gardening apron and gloves with her trowel and rake thing (what is that thing called?). I was going to take a picture of her before school, but forgot, so here she is after. Her hair is much neater in the morning. Well, OK, it's sort of neater. Also, she thinks it's the height of hilarity to keep her eyes closed, or to make silly faces.

I Want Some of Those

2009-05-16T17:37:00.002+02:00

So, I would like to know, where all these mysterious children they keep talking about. The ones who lay around the house playing video games and watching DVD's and getting fat. Mine have been on the ceiling ALL DAY LONG. The more activities I try and give them, the more nuts they become. I need some of those chubby, lazy kids STAT.

Adoption

2009-05-14T21:39:00.005+02:00

For the first year of Mary's life, she was in foster care. I remember when our adoption agency told us she'd been in foster care and the absolute relief that fell through my body. At the time, I had researched so much, probably too much, and was prepared for the worst of the worst. Bringing home an institutionalized baby with attachment issues, and who knows what else... believe me, we were ready to deal with that, but to find out that she'd been fostered was such a gift. To know that she had been cared for, that her cries for food or love had been met by someone not frazzled with caring for 12 other babies, soothed me in a way you can't imagine. Looking back at my chubby, well fed little girl, with the ability to love and connect with us right away, I feel a connection to her foster parents that is hard to put into words.

We weren't allowed to know who her foster family was. When we arrived in China, bearing gifts for them, we were told to leave them on a bench for the orphanage director to take to them. Even at that early point in our trip, I wasn't that naive. The whole issue of talking to, or knowing about the foster family, was definitely off limits. To be honest, at that point, both Jay and I were so in love with our new daughter that we couldn't see anything else.

Our group, in other words, people who used the same agency, consisted of just one other woman. Her daughter was born in the same city as Mary and we received them the same day. As we brought them back to our hotel, the foster family who'd fostered this woman's baby came to the hotel. They were persistent. They came back and back again. The woman in our group didn't really want to acknowledge them. Our guide had to block them from the hotel. I felt so sad for them as I knew they wanted to protect this baby they'd loved and cared for the first year of her life. But, to be honest, I didn't think much about it as we we adjusted to our new family.

A few years ago, a family contacted us, saying they believed Mary and their daughter had been fostered together. They were researching the foster family and wanted to be in touch with us. We've stayed in touch through the past few years and they told us that they were enlisting an agency to find the foster family of our girls. I told them I'd love to send some pictures and some information about Mary, but again, I didn't think of it too much.

Life got away from us this year. We brought our little Ben home, left Italy, stayed in America for four months, etc. etc. and I just never got around to gathering all of the things for Mary's foster family that I should have. Today I got an email from our friends, saying they were home and they'd met the family. I was crying reading the email It really hit me that we'd missed the first year of her life and here was the missing link. The foster mother remembered Mary, said they'd called her "Xia Xia". The foster mother told our friends that the day before Mary was to be adopted, the orphanage "people" took her away in a van, driving quite quickly. This is, apparently, so that the foster families could not find out where they'd gone. This broke my heart on so many levels. To imagine my baby, being torn away from her home and her comfort is horrifying. I also feel such empathy for this foster mother. I know what it is to care and love a child who is not your own. No, it's not the same. But, it's still a love and it still hurts. Mary's foster mother apparently took a two hour drive into Wuhan to go to all the hotels where the Americans stay, in hopes of finding us. Obviously, she didn't. But now we have an address and a face and a situation to explain to our girl, when she asks about her first year of life, thanks to this family, who had the tenacity and persistance to seek out the foster family.

Adoption's a funny thing. They are your children. Just like everyone else has their children. They are just yours. You are a family. No matter how it came to be. Then, something like this, comes along and smacks you upside your head and you realize how lucky you are and how amazing your family truly is.

What Mary Taught Me

2009-05-14T15:16:00.002+02:00

My Mom reminded me yesterday of something Mary had said, that I had forgotten. We were at my parent's house and Ben was being a monkey, wearing his poor Mama out, and I said something in exasperation to my Mom and Mary said, "Well, you bought him!"

My Son's Future Wife Is So Going To Adore Him.

2009-05-08T20:50:00.011+02:00

Ben picks a "flower" for his teacher every day on the walk to school. How sweet is that? His teacher, who, by the way, is very, very nice, doesn't seem so impressed by it. So it's a dandelion... get over it. Your a preschool teacher, not a princess. I think it's gorgeous and adorable.

Also, only after looking at these pictures, did I realize I'd buttoned his shirt wrong and he must have worn it to school that way. I can barely button my own shirts, don't expect me to button someone elses' as well.

I'm Crazy

2009-05-07T21:55:00.003+02:00

So, I really thought it would be so cute when my children began speaking in British accents. I knew it would happen quickly for Mary. When we lived here before, I remember the American children getting an accent as soon as they started "real school". Cognitively, I knew my little girl would, but I'm surprised at how, instinctively, I don't want her be any different. I need to get a grip.

Dalby Forest

2009-05-06T13:43:00.021+02:00

We went to the Dalby Forest which is almost right in our backyard. We bought a season pass because we had such a fantastic day and it's a perfect place for our beasties. It's rained every day since then though, so...

Daddy and Mary at lunch. Why is Mary holding up a tomato? Really, why? Does anyone know?

Mama and Ben. Ben looking sultry like only a three year old in a monster t-shirt can.

So, we had bunches of pictures of the kids playing on this really great playground, but only after uploading them did notice a big, greasy -from- lunch- fingerprint on the lens (I'm looking AT YOU Benjamin!). Here's a few though. It took Ben a long time to get up the nerve to cross this. He really doesn't like any sort of instability under his feet. He did it though and was extremely proud of himself. Yay Ben!

Mary is a balancing fool and had no trouble with the obstacle course.

With shoes.

Without shoes

Ben with the ~~rock~~ fish that he "caught".

My totem pole. This is at the beginning of what was advertised as a "short, easy walk". It was even handicapped accessible. The kids will love it! Hahahaha...enjoy this picture as I am, because it was just before the whining, complaining and threatning to leave with the coyotes, began.

Toward the end, Mary's little hands on her hips. She'd had it.

Ben Starts School

2009-05-04T08:15:00.008+02:00

I was dropping Mary off for school one morning and the headteacher came over to ask me how everything was. She asked me if we were thinking of putting Ben in preschool and I, having lived through the trauma of Mary starting proper school, said, "Well, eventually". She introduced me to the pre-school teacher and she was all, "Ben can start tomorrow, go two hours three times a week and it's completely funded" and I was all "Ummmm" and she was all, "OK, I'll make him a name tag and we'll see you tomorrow". Done.

As ordered we turned up the next day and waited for the melt down. We'd had Ben in daycare for a few hours a week in Italy and he absolutely loathed it. I swear to you, he smacked us in the face when we picked him up. That's right, smacked us in the face. Every. Time. So, we weren't expecting much from this. As I was talking to him and assuring him that "Mama, always comes back", his little eyes spotted the computer. A computer that he could actually touch without getting sent to time out. He was then like, "BYE, MAMA! BYE DADDY!" (because he shouts pretty much everything he says), and this was how we left him...

Uhhh...nope.

2009-04-30T21:01:00.005+02:00

Tonight I had a lot of trouble putting my beasties to bed. There came a point where I thought that they were going to finally stay in their room and settle down and I went upstairs to take a bath. Ben came out and called out, "Mama?" I didn't say anything, hoping he'd just go back to bed. I could hear him going throughout the house saying, "Mama?... Nope." "Mama?... Nope." So funny! He never did realize I was in the bathroom. Mama-1, Ben- Nil.

I'm Airing My Dirty Laundry

2009-04-29T19:46:00.007+02:00

Here's what happens when your child has an "accident" at night when you have an American washer and dryer. You chuck the bedding in the washer all at once, including the down comforter. You wash it. It takes maaaaybeee, 3o minutes. You take it out, put it in the dryer, another 30 minutes, 45 tops, and poof, ready to be put back on the bed.

Here is what happens when your child has an accident and you have a British washer and dryer. You put the sheets in. A bottom, top, and duvet cover. You start the washer. You walk the Mary to school. You stop by the store to pick up newspapers. You feed the ducks on the way home. You walk in...still on the spin cycle. You vacuum, play blocks with Ben, sweep the patio. The washer winds down. You fix lunch, put Ben down for a nap. It's finally done. You take out that load and hang it outside because ~~your husband is cheap~~ you are Eco-friendly. And repeat the whole cycle with the comforter. Only you think, I'll just cheat and put that in the dryer. A few moments later you notice that it smells like a duck has died in your house and put the comforter out on the line as well. Finally, after dinner, this laundry is finished and as you are taking it off the line, the comforter falls off the line and into the pond. (Who puts a clothes line over a pond?????) Then you shout out a filthy word and put it back into the washer.

I hate doing laundry here.

Update:

This same child had another accident last night, so I get to do this all over again today.

She's Not An Octopus!

2009-04-20T15:00:00.015+02:00

Everyone was right, and I was wrong and happily so. Mary did so well. She went right into her class, no tears, didn't even really look back.

Outside our front door, all ready to go. How cute is she? Aaaand I wasn't even crying yet.

Showing off her reading bag, or book bag. I can't remember exactly what it's called.

On the walk to school. This is about 300 feet from our house and this is where I started crying.

Mary and her teacher Mrs. Atherton, who is "super nice!" She left the day saying she'd had "such a fun day". She did exercises and got to paint and everyone wanted to hold her hand, but "I'm not an octopus, so I couldn't." She's so happy and tired. She seems different somehow though. Not in a bad way, just a little older, a little less of a (my)baby. It was a bittersweet day for me, but a wonderful day for our little daughter.

NOW I Know Why People Home School

2009-04-15T19:51:00.010+02:00

I remember telling several people...SEVERAL, that I would rather have my eyes poked out with a rusty old stick, than to home school my children. "I can't wait for their first day of school!" I would proclaim confidently, picturing all of my free time spent watching Dr. Phil and painting my toenails. Now that the time has come for Mary to be off for the whole day to school, I am in floods of tears constantly and can totally understand the desire to keep your child at home, safe with you.

For instance, today, I bought her her little bento boxes to go in her super cute butterfly lunch bag and as I was putting them in the dishwasher, I could imagine her sitting in a big lunchroom with no Mama and no Daddy and popping them open and eating ALL BY HERSELF. I just don't think I can do this. Seriously. Can't. Do. It. I soooo need advice from my Mom friends. How did you handle it?

Ben Loves This...

2009-04-14T21:47:00.004+02:00

Ben adores this book and kills himself laughing at it every time we read it. It is a really cute book but geez... I've been reading this book to Ben for the past few months. Now, Jay has to do it- Every. Night. Ha Ha.

Mary in Her School Uniform

2009-04-11T20:37:00.003+02:00

Mary starts school on April 20th. I've started crying already...

A Few Pictures of Our Village

2009-04-10T20:39:00.010+02:00

We've been so happy so far. Everyone's been really nice to be back and the village is absolutely beautiful. Here are a few pictures from our first few days. I'll take more when I feel more ambitious.Walking into the village the day after we arrived. Still a bit tired!

This is the walk through the woods across the street from us. This is Ben and Mary and their duck counterparts.

Mary doesn't want her picture taken, but she totally hides it well.

Mary Can Tie Her Shoes!

2009-04-10T20:29:00.003+02:00

How Mary Entertained Herself at The Airport

2009-04-07T08:40:00.007+02:00

By coercing Ben into a photo shoot:

Guess who decided on this look?

This is my favorite. Mary spent, like ten minutes, trying to get Ben into this pose. Jay and I were killing ourselves laughing.

Daddy and Ben. The day after Jay got home, Ben spent the whole day saying to himself, "Daddy home". It was so sweet.

Self portrait.
Her reading material.

I'm Back With No Excuses

2009-04-04T20:44:00.027+02:00

It's been a long, sometimes harrowing, four and a half months that I don't really want to revisit by blogging about it. All I will say about it is that I am so very, very thankful to not be a single parent.

I'll just begin with the fun stuff...

Jay came back from Greenland to fly with us back to England. We sqeeeeezed in a visit to Disneyland on the Monday before we left. I'd been telling the kids about it for weeks before we went. Both Jay and I adore Disneyland because we are unique like that and had been talking about how fantastic it is. We arrived, stood in line, stood in another line, and finally got to the ticket counter so that we could do more of that.

We finally got into the park, and starving, went to eat breakfast. We went to some buffet that cost about 400,000 dollars, but we were starving so we didn't care. Unknowingly, we'd chosen the "eat with the characters" restaurant. Mary HATES, absolutely loathes people dressed up in animal costumes. She understands that they are just people, blah blah, but is still completely terrified when she sees one. Don't even think that it was like, um, Minnie and Mickey either. It was Captain Hook and that weird Briar patch wolf thingy with huge teeth. Both kids were screaming and giving us dirty looks that clearly told us that this place blows.

Once we went on our first ride, they were singing a different tune and had such a fun time after that. It was also so much fun for Jay and I to see it through their eyes.

Ben loves cars, so we chose the Autotopia for our first ride. Here we are getting ready to go and you can see that he still doesn't quite trust us...

He loved it and laughed like this the entire time. I rode with Mary and she drove Neapolitan style and gave her Mama the whiplash.

Here are Mary and Ben and some stranger's child, waiting in line for the Nemo ride. At first it was just the same ol' 1970's fake coral and giant fake diver guy, and I was all: LAME. They can't pass this off as a Nemo ride, but then it became really great and was actually a pretty amazing ride. It was Mary's favorite of the day.

They were having such a good time that we decided to take them on "The Pirates and The Caribbean" ride because we are impulsive parents who don't realize that rides in the dark that have pirates shooting at you, might, just might, scare your three and five year old.

Here's Jay and the kids at the The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, which is actually the Tarzan house or something, but I'm old and refuse to accept change.

Ummm...they're super cute in their hats.

They totally ate their weight in candy and LOVED it!