Friday, January 12, 2007

Froggy on the Potty...

Tonight Munchkin needed to do a poop. It's the physical therapist in me that makes her poop on her little potty since she can keep her feet flat on the floor (it's ergonomics, dontcha know...easier to push, etc.). She sits on the potty in her bathroom and I go surf the web 'til she's done. A few minutes go by and I hear, "Mama...I'm done." I enter her bathroom to find her squatting ON her potty (her feet are on the seat of the potty as she squats over the tiny bowl) and she is saying, "I'm a froggy! Ribbit! Ribbit!!"

LOL! WTF makes kids do the things they do???!!! :)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Guitar Heroes...

I got BikeBoy the Guitar Hero PS2 game for Xmas...it has been the most fun game ever! Christmas afternoon, while Munchkin napped in my arms, BikeBoy played it for 2.5 hours then he and I played it another 2 hours after she went to bed that night!

It's basically a game with a guitar as the controller but the guitar has no strings...just 5 buttons for "frets" and a little bar you strum with your right hand. The game has an amazing rock soundtrack and as each song plays the "music" scrolls in front of you with a "band" playing in the background. The music is really notes of different colors to match the colors of the frets and it basically tells you when and how long to play each note. There are about 30 songs and each one has 4 levels, beginner to expert. I have only played mostly the beginner songs and a few of the next level (whatever it's called). It is incredibly fun and I love, love, LOVE it when I get more points than BikeBoy! You get scores for overall %-age of notes you played correctly, most consecutive notes, and the response you get from the crowd (you can get boo-ed off and "fail" the song). So now I have some new songs that I've been exposed to: The Exies "Hey You," Burning Brides "Heart Full of Black," and Sum 41's "Fat Lip." They're all pretty hard rock (one of my preferred genres) but I had heard none of these before we played this game! It just rocks and totally fulfills my fantasy of ever being a rock star (and I didn't have to become a heroin addict to do it!). If you have a PS2 I highly recommend this game! :)

Sleeping companions...

Last night Munchkin said she didn't want to sleep alone. When I refused to sleep with her or let her sleep in our bed (she does sometimes but I didn't want to start another new trend) she said she wanted more of her stuffed animals. So...she slept with 23 of them. Yup. Twenty-freakin'-three! Mostly stuffed kitties but a few puppets and a couple of baby dolls...even her metal cat alarm clock was under the covers! What a hoot! Tonight she wanted the same crew and proceeded to tuck them each in under various layers of her sheet/blankets! What a cutie!

BikeBoy's ball-buster of a commute...

It took him 6 hours! Yes, SIX hours to go about 8 miles last night. It had snowed about 4 inches max but the roads were icy, snowy, gridlocked. When he got to the bottom of our hill (we live on a plateau and the hill is the last mile before our development; it's probably between 10 and 14% grade, I'm guessing) they closed the road. People were ditching cars everywhere along the way home and walking but he only had his dress shoes on so he couldn't ditch and walk! They reopened the road to 4WD vehicles (he has a 4WD Jeep Wrangler) and he was able to make it up.

This morning on his way back to work he passed between 30 and 50 cars abandoned on that same hill...some were intact but just pulled to the side of the road, others were face down in the ditch or crashed into other vehicles. The road was one lane wide in some spots due to all the deserted vehicles. YIKES.

School was closed today so Munchkin had no pre-school and I had to call in "off" to work myself. We'll go out soon and play in the snow (a rare event here in the PNW). Of course, Munchkin's snow saucer is in the garage loft about 3 feet higher than I can reach when I stand atop our highest stepladder...how in heck did BikeBoy get it there in the first place???? Guess we'll be sliding on our butts or on cardboard today!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The rollercoaster ride begins!!!

We have made the official decision...we are pursuing the adoption of a second daughter!!! :) This time we are headed off to China as we are too old for Korea's program now. I am so excited yet haven't told many people IRL...I don't dare get my hopes up as I know the process will take at least two years and there are so many hurdles. What if something comes up in our physicals which would rule us out? What if China changes its rules again (it just made significant changes in December 2006 which take place in May of this year)? What if, what if, what if? I guess I won't believe it until we get our referral and even then it won't seem real until the three of us are over in China to meet our fourth family member. So begins the long wait and the long paperchase! I'm sooooo happy!!!!! :D

The big wind storm...

Back about 3 weeks ago we had a HUGE windstorm here in the PNW. Hurricane force winds. Pelting rain. Sheets, actually. The power went off on a Thursday night 12.16 and then at 1:15 am Friday, as BikeBoy, Munchkin and I were tucked in our big bed, we heard a "crack" then a "creak" and BikeBoy and I looked out the window in time to see foliage headed our way! I screamed a blood-curdling scream just as the tree hit our house with a "thud" just above our bedroom window then proceeded to continue its fall, landing with a louder "thump" between our house and the neighbors' house. I snatched Munchkin up and the three of us ran downstairs as fast as we could and huddled in the internal hallway with blankets and pillows the rest of the night.

Munchkin didn't wake up until we were settling in then she says, sleepily, "What're we doing down here?" BikeBoy and I didn't get any rest the entire night...just lying there listening to branches and trees near and far falling all over the place.

Our house only suffered external damage (broken gutter, torn off window screen, etc.). The neighbors' house suffered the same plus a broken roof support beam. We were lucky. We dodged a bullet, BikeBoy says! The tree was about 80 feet tall, a type of cedar tree, I think. It must've been old...I haven't counted its rings yet but, at its base it was approx. 10 feet in circumference.

The neighborhood looked like a war zone as did most of our town and surrounding towns. Driving around the first few days we had to be prepared for alternate routes because power lines and trees were down everywhere. Our power remained out for 2.5 days but some people were without power for 9-10 days! We were scrambling to find firewood and fire logs. It was cold, about high 30s during the time this happened. I was sooooo glad when the power came back on!!!

That's just the quick synopsis before I forget some of the details!