resolution

I had the best intentions to post a detailed summary, but now I think highlights is all that is needed...after all, it's 2000 freakin 8 now!

We met up with my siblings at my oldest sister's house the Friday before Xmas. My parents are still overseas doing mission work. They were truly missed. We all went sledding in the foggy darkness. I haven't done it since I was little. It was so much fun. Roan absolutely loved it! My heart skipped a few times seeing him go down the hill by his little lonesome, but Choua was close by...running. It's moments like this that make me feel so warm and happy inside. I'm sure a big darn smile is planted on my face too. I'll post pictures up, I promise...the fog was amazing!

My siblings and I (except Paul) spent Xmas Eve Eve at the airport. The weather was bad so we wanted to make sure we saw our littlest sister off to her new hometown. We just sat around, drinking hot chocolate on the floor and chatting and laughing until she finally had to board her plane.

My sisters and me:

The siblings, spouses (except my SIL, Phoua,--she's 9 months preggo and couldn't make the long trip), and grandchildren.

I couldn't resist including this picture. After opening presents on Xmas morning. My littlest niece, Aleah, wanted to put on my next littlest niece, Ayden's, new fancy straight from the Hmong flea market sandals on. Look at her sassy stance.


It looks really bad because I didn't take many more pictures after we left my siblings. There was too much random sickness afterwards though.

We headed to the Dells to meet Choua's family at the Kalahari. It was sweet! I saw a movie with my in-laws and Choua and I made Xmas dinner. It takes a long time to make a big and varied dinner, when you only have a few pots and pans to use.

Next, we headed up to the Twin Cities and just lounged until we took Roan to the ER due to "something he caught from the Dells" said the ER Pediatrician. On the day we were to return, Choua got sick so I drove and didn't realize we had lost power steering. I'm dumb...I hardly drive his car and I just thought that maybe his car was more physical than mine. Plus, on the interstate, you don't turn much so I didn't really notice it until we stopped for gas.

Needles to say, we had to spend the night in Rockford. We risked it the next day because apparently no rental cars or car mechanics are open in Rockford on New Year's day. We were about 15 miles from our house, when the car finally died. We had it towed and Roan liked riding on my my lap in the big truck.

It was such a wonderful time even though we didn't go anywhere warm or did anything exceptional. It was one of my favorite holiday season ever. I feel like I got my family back. I feel hopeful and happy. I also got the opportunity to get closer to Choua's family and that is really important to me.

I don't really do NY resolutions, but I feel like this is going to be a wonderful year, personally and professionally. I can't wait to start living again.

belated happy holidays

I have been MIA since before Xmas and in the pre-holiday rush, I didn't have a chance to post prior to being sure that everyone who was meant to receive one, got one. Here are our holiday cards:

favorite thing

About a month ago, Roan decided that it was fun to throw things down our stairs. I don't know if he likes the way they look going down the stairs or if it's just an extension of his love for messiness and disorder (like his father of course), but he does it often. Usually, it's from the top of stairs down from his bedroom. However, on this particular night, he decided that maybe the downstairs stairs might be just as fun. ...shall we experiment?

C'mon Buz...

Uh oh...as if it were an accident.

Mommy says, "Go get Buz," so off he goes.

BTW...these are the same steps he tumbled down when he was just nine months old. Unless you are a parent and this has happened to you, you will never know the feeling you get when you hear, thump, thump, thump, a pause, and then a loud wail. We came running over to see him laying spread eagle, face up on the cement at the bottom of these very stairs. We learned very quickly that the door must always be shut.

Coming back up.

Again?

On a sweet note, I have finally made some sort of money on a photo-related project. The best thing about it is that it was completely a surprise! Thank you so much! As I am still skill building/serious hobbyist, I am not doing any of this for money right now so it's such a nice treat. I'm still in the red when it comes to photography, but the feeling I get when someone gets teary-eyed over their photos makes it worth it to me...though my husband disagrees.

weekend fun

We had a fun weekend. Roan is getting to that age where he really wants to do stuff for himself. I am trying to take advantage of this by teaching him early that washing dishes after every meal...AND...cleaning up after yourself is very important!


He kept telling me to "Stay!", which is his way of telling me to not interfere with him. He washed these two sippy cups for like 10 minutes.


Roan and I saw "Enchanted" on Saturday morning. The theatre opens at 10a and so we try to go at that time, in case, he can't sit still. He was great! We packed snacks and his blankie and he only got up twice to walk down the aisle. When I told him to come back though, he did. I was really surprised.

We spent Saturday night at our friend's house. After a delicious dinner, we played poker. In the midst of playing, Roan and Matthew, ran into the room and shouted, "Ta Da!" I think it must be a little boy thing because if you read my blog regularly, you'll see that Roan and his cousin, Ethan also love running around without their shirts on. All of the kids played so well together and Roan was in heaven, with the toys and all of the attention.

This was the scene at the end of the night. They were chillin, watching "Transformers".

And...the best part of the night, we went home winners! That's actually Choua's winnings. I only went home with $5 more than what I started with. It just felt good to finally have some sort of a clue about what I was doing.

1st accumulated snow

Today I was supposed to take the afternoon off to go Xmas shopping, but I had some last minute work to do so I didn't. I think I am procrastinating because I have no idea what to get. My family does Secret Santa for the adults so I only have one chance to get it right.

Roan and I had the chance this morning to go out and enjoy the first accumulated snow of the year. He didn't want to go out at first because he loves staying home with me, but I coaxed him outside. Once he got out there though, he acted like he was at the beach! He rolled around in the snow and even put his face in it. He kept throwing it up in the air as well, like water.

Then I hard time getting him to go to daycare. Even M&M's didn't work. I felt so bad though, I haven't even bought him new winter boots yet. I guess I'll need to use my coupons to get him a good pair since it seems he'll spend a lot of time in the snow this year.

Oh...yes...and BTW...I finally ordered by holiday cards! Yay! Can't wait!

Below: When we first got outside. He had this silly little grin the whole time!

Jumping...he didn't get much air.


In a matter of seconds the sun moved this morning. I thought it was pretty amazing.


Yes...he is trying to eat the snow.

Ah...to be a child again!

tree trimming, part i

It has already been three nights now and we still don't have our tree and living room decorated. On Tuesday, we took our tree and holiday decorations out and set the tree up. Thank God the tree is pre-lit! On Wednesday night, we starting putting ornaments on, but for some reason never finished.

Since we've returned from our trip home, I am still in the process of doing a million pieces of laundry, designing our holiday card, and etc., in addition to my normal responsibilities. I feel really fatigued. It is my night tonight, but I decided to just hang around the house, and tie up loose ends, go to bed early, and sleep in late.

We're supposed to get some snow/sleet/rain tomorrow. Most years, I'd be dreading it, but now that I have a DSLR, I'm looking forward to the photo opportunities.

Below: just some shots of Roan putting ornaments up on our tree. We have no breakable ornaments. Roan's never really pulled them down, but just in case, I never bought any. In due time, we'll have nice ornaments...when the boy is a little more mature.




Below: one of Roan and me from tonight as I was setting up and testing self-timer. Don't be surprised if you don't see some form of this picture in our holiday card.

morning in court

I spent the morning in court. Don't ask why because I am still sore about how this all happened and this is a wound that I'm sure will open on it's own in due time. I digress...so back to the story.

As I walk in, I notice that there are about 200 people in the room so it's mass court. Being as I have never been to court before, I was surprised. I thought that the appointment time, meant that was set aside for me. Well, the truth is that all 200+ of us were all set for the 8:30a slot. I also notice that the room is filled with about 90% minorities, excluding the judge, police officers, lawyers and the bailiff.

So I start wondering why this is? I would like to give some credit to the officers who gave us all our citations and believe that maybe minorities, due to lack of language comprehension, fail to obey laws more, but as I watch the spanish court translater only assist at most 20% of the minorities in the room, I don't feel too confident about this.

Now I am not accusing anyone of anything, but it sure does make one think. Of course, I am also in the minority there as there are only about a handful of Asian Americans in the room and I am counting what appeared to be middle eastern americans in this group. Of course, I was there for what I considered a minor violation. Maybe in a major violation court, the mix of races would be different?