First Snow

We finally had our first, and only, snow last week. It was more of a dusting than real snow but it's all we've had all winter so we called it snow.  Rosie's favorite Christmas movie was Frosty the snow man and she really likes all snow men... or as she calls them, "Nose man." So even though it was cold and night time I wanted to make sure she got some time out side in the snow before it all melted away in the morning. William got some really great pictures of her playing in the snow. She loved it and didn't even mind that she was cold.

There's something magic about the first snow of Winter... especially when Rosie is there to smile and laugh and enjoy it.

Up a Tree

I like Trees. I like the way they dance in the wind. I like the way they smell. I like the way they change with the seasons. I like the different shades of green they come in.   When I was a child one of my favorite poems was about trees. It said "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."

Trees are important and formidable figures in literature and pop culture.  Tolkien had the Ents in Lord of the Rings, that fought to free the people of Middle Earth. In the movie the Wizard of Oz the apple trees threw apples at Dorthy and her friends. In C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian the trees come to life and destroyed a whole army of men. There are a number of stories in which trees fight back.

We have some very beautiful trees in this area, but a few months ago we had a bad wind storm that knocked a bunch of them down and broke some branches. You can see some of the damage HERE.

William had a lot of work to do after that storm, and a lot of trees to clean up. You may remember this picture from my mom's blog when he was trying to cut a half fallen tree down and decided it would be a good idea to tie a rope around his waist and try to climb it.

Luckily I did intervened before he managed to get up in the tree. I have no idea what he was thinking.

A few weeks ago another branch of a tree half broke and was dangling over the wooden fence.  So while everyone was in the house William decided to try to take care of it by himself.  Keep in mind that when the branch first broke I specifically told William not to climb that tree to try and cut the branch down.

That's a pretty good rule of thumb actually: Do not climb trees to cut them down.

So today around 4pm, I was in the house and heard what I thought were goats bellowing very loudly. We have some pretty load and talkative goats so for a while I just figured that's what I was hearing. Until it seamed that one of the bellows sounded like my name.  I decided to investigate just to make sure that every thing was ok. Sometimes one of the goats gets their head stuck in something and need help.

So out I went and saw all the goats standing in a huddle looking very scared, and then I heard why. A very loud shout of help.  I ran towards where I saw the goats looking and where the sound was coming from and sure enough there he was.
William was hanging from a tree.

I ran and got my mom and a ladder before I had fully assessed how he was.  Since he was at the bottom of the hill our house sits on I didn't see clearly how he was but I knew we needed to get him down. Of course I expected the worse. From the top of the hill it looked like his leg was stuck and may be broken.

It took both me and my mom wedging the latter up against the tree and holding it stable enough for William to put his weight on so he could lift himself up and unwedge his leg from inside the forked tree.  Luckily the leg was not broken. Just very very stuck. 

I'm very very very thankful that he's ok. He's very bruised and scratched up, but we have him heavily medicated, well fed, and resting with his leg up.

So for future reference. Do Not Climb Trees in Order to Cut Them Down.

Or if you're William. Do Not Climb Trees.

Happy Father's Day

 Yesterday was Father's day and we had a wonderful day of celebrating William and how thankful we are for him. 

This was William's first father's day that he got to spend with his Baby Girl. Last year he was in China and I was in the US. So I wanted to make sure this year was extra special.

On Monday I made William oatmeal raisin cookies, one of his favorites. He got to eat them all week long and then on Sunday I made him Ghirardelli double chocolate brownies, another favorite.

Rosie examines Daddy's Boo-boo

Actually I got the date of Father's Day wrong this year. I thought it was the second week of June, like mother's day, but it's the third week. After sending both our dad's cards by express mail because I thought they would be late, I learned that I had another week to plan. That turned out great actually because I had more time to get a few more things for William, and to plan our church outfits. 

 Baby Girl got her Daddy a new iPod shuffle. It's so teeny tiny! It's perfect for wearing around outside while he's working and won't get in his way because it's so small.

I got William a new tie. Partly because it was a nice looking tie and partly because I thought it was funny to get him something so cliche.

Boys love new toys. Even small ones.

We are so proud of William and are so thankful to for how much he loves us. He really is an amazing father.

 William request hamburgers for dinner so I made big thick garlic burgers with colby-jack cheese. I was quite pleased with how they turned out and I think William was too.

 After dinner we played in the liquor cabinet to see what we could make from what we had.  William made dirty martinis and something with Chocolate milk, Kahlua and Bailey's Irish Cream.  After we got him good and drunk we sent him to play video games.

 

 

Shaken, not stirred.

Thank you William for being such a loving Daddy to our little Angel and for never being too cool or serious to be silly with us.

Questing 140/365

 Yesterday was a day of quests.(That's nerd talk for ... doing stuff)

After a wonderfully lazy day of playing computer games, taking naps and watching bad TV we all decided to walk out to the back fields and look for William's iPod that had somehow disappeared.  That quest was a great success when I found it laying on the ground in some weeds about half a mile from the house.

Since we were all hot and sweaty after that we decided we needed some ice cream. So we went on a quest for ice cream.

 Except we started at the wrong end of the store and ended up with a few extra things...

Like Pop Tarts!
I was horrified when William told me he'd never had Pop Tarts. That's like saying you've never watched Saturday morning cartoons... which he didn't, or that you've never had a twinky!  So I made him buy some because you can't live in America without trying these wonderful little treats sometime.

And yes, William, you have to toast them.

New Toy 131/365

When we lived in Shanghai William and I both had really nice bicycles. I was really sad when we had to sell them but William promised we would get new ones again someday... even if we did live in America.

Most people in China have bicycles as their main form of transformation. Some people are lucky enough to have electric bikes or scooters. You can fit a lot of people on a scooter, a whole family really.

A few weeks ago my parents bought a new bike to help William get around on the 70 acres better.

It's not quite what William had in mind when we said we'd get new bikes, but we can and do fit the whole family on it.

Baby Girl loves going for a ride. She asks to be taken out on the bike every day.  If she's really tired she will even take a nap on it.
She doesn't like to fall asleep in her car seat, like most babies do, but she'll fall asleep riding on the ATV.  She's such a good little farmer girl.

Blood and Birthdays 98/365

Today William gave blood. He's got really special blood that they always want so they asked him to give a little extra.

It's been a long time since I've seen any one give blood, but it seems to have gotten a lot fancier! They have such cool machines now.

This machine takes the blood out, separates it from the plasma, and then puts the plasma back into William! In the end they have a nice bag full of red blood cells and they can take a little more than usual because they put the plasma back. And, since they processed the blood as it was being taken out, it will be ready to be used in accident victims and cancer patients tomorrow! Crazy!

Bonnie Rose thought it was great fun. She enjoyed smiling at all the friendly people.

"Look at my sticker"

Today was also Bonita Rose's 18month Birthday. My baby girl is a year and a half. How did it go by so fast! She was such a little tiny baby ...

And now she's such a big girl.

For her mini birthday we had a tea party. We all put on dress up clothes and tiaras, except William who wore a Bowler hat, and Nana made peanut butter cookies.

We got out my little tea cups from when I was a kid and they were the prefect size for Bonnie Rose.

She was so excited to have her who tea cup to drink out of.

Such a good little girl. Even has her pinkie finger up, her Daddy taught her that.

She drank two whole cups of tea before she even realized there were cookies to be played with. I'm so proud of my little darling and I'm looking forward to many more tea parties to come.

Happy Birthday William! 74/365

Yesterday was William's Birthday. William is my funny and ever so serious husband, and friend. I usually try not to say things like "I'm married to my best friend" because I don't like to take the romantic love I feel for William out of our marriage, and that just doesn't sound romantic to me. But yeah, I don't know what I'd do without him. He's my partner in crime, my fellow adventurer and he's always cheering me on in all of my craziness--even if he is pretending to be appalled by my silliness. He keeps me grounded while I keep him silly and young. He's my biggest supporter and my champion. He's my rock and my sunshine. I love this man. I love this artist.

But enough of this mushy stuff. Let's see some pictures!

Here are some great shots of William when he was a kid. Miriam took some really amazing pictures of him growing up and it was really hard to pick just a few.

Apparently this is how fishermen size up their children.

William on his second birthday. Birthday's are very serious.

I just really love this picture. 

William and I when we were 5. Look at those smiles. It was destiny.

William graduates high school! Which is an accomplishment really since he never went to kindergarten.

So to celebrate this lovely man we had a day out and about. First Baby Girl and I took him out to breakfast. Ok, so really it was more like brunch because everyone should sleep-in on their Birthday.

Actually I really think that everyone should take off work on their birthdays. This was the first year I managed to convince William to that however, but I think he liked it and hopefully we can keep the tradition going. 

Also, you should have Ice Cream for breakfast on your birthday.  

William takes his ice cream very seriously.

After breakfast we drove to Nashville and went to Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Art Museum. 

Everything was in bloom and so so lovely. It was perfect that it was a little rainy because it meant we had the place almost all to ourselves.

We spent some time in the Japanese Garden where the cherry tree was in full bloom and looked heavenly. The whole ground was sprinkled with little pink peddles.

Then we walked the sculpture garden trail. We came upon a sculpture of some animals in a circle and Bonnie Rose spend 20 minutes going from each animal and petting it. I think she would have stayed longer but it was raining.

Then we found the a pet cemetery. We were guessing maybe they were dogs. They had funny names and short lives. The first one in the circle was born in 1928.

Even though it was raining, it was so beautiful to see everything blooming. Spring in Tennessee has so many bright and vibrant colors.

For William's birthday I let him play on his iPhone as much as he wanted. (I'm usually telling him to put the damn thing down as it's impossible to have a conversation with him when it's always in front of his face.) This is what he looked like all day long.

After Cheekwood we met up with Anandit and Albert one more time for dinner and had some wonderful Indian food. It was good to spend time with friends and especially with people who appreciate William. We made wishful plans to visit Shanghai with them someday.

When we got home we were very exhausted but there was still some birthday celebrating to do. Bonnie Rose helped her Nana back a cake, and licked the mixers, and then made a card for her Daddy.

We put 3 and 2 candles on the cake for 32.

William wanted a chocolate cake with lemon frosting on it. He made his own frosting and my mom made the cake. It's not a combination I would suggest trying. But the cake was good and the frosting was good...separately.

We ended a very long day with cards, gifts and cake and then we all fell into bed. I hope William had a good birthday and I hope he feels loved and appreciated. Because he is.

So that was the first day of celebrating William's birthday. We still have a whole weekend ahead of us for lots more celebrating, rain or shine. 

Happy Birthday William.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Part 1 66-67/365

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!  I love St. Patrick's Day. I have so many wonderful memories growing up with St. Patty's day, and several in my grown up years too.

We started our day of right with a wonderful breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham.

 Then I made very green cupcakes. I added some apple cider vinegar to the batter to get to green to stay nice and bright.

 I made clover candies to put on top of the cupcakes. It turned out to be more work than I thought it would be. I bought the quick drying candy coating and that didn't like being squeezed thought a frosting bag so William came to the rescue and figured out how to make the stuff not dry so fast. I think he added crisco to it. Then he figured out it could be goopped on the wax paper and spread out into the desired shape. It ended up taking all day ( I had to keep walking away and coming back to it) but the end result was totally worth it.

 Here are my loved ones all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day. Aren't they the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?!

This year, we decided to do something we've never done before. We went to St. Patrick's, the local catholic church, for their special St. Patrick's day service. Since he is their patron saint they have a special service in his honor. It was so much fun! The whole church was decorated in Irish Bells and green.

 And they brought out a special statue of St. Patrick ...

 I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be taking pictures in church so I snuck these two. I thought it was so much fun how every one in the service was dressed in green. Even the priest had a special robe for the special day.

 We've been going to the church for some time now. We aren't catholic but we've been enjoying the warmth and love and feel of this church. The priest is so kind and practical and it's been so baby friendly. So We've just been sitting in the back and enjoying it. Since the St. Patrick's day service was so small the Priest asked us to bring the elements up to the alter for communion. I was so nervous the whole way up that I was going to do something wrong and offend someone, but it was so much fun to be asked to participate that I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face for the rest of the service.  It was such a fun and personal service that ended with the priest taking out his guitar and leading every one in a song. So much fun!

After the service was a potluck (which is what I made the cupcakes for). A lot more people showed up for that and there was tons of fun. The best part was there were also lots of kids running around and Baby Girl loved that. She ran around and laughed and laughed. Sadly I forgot to take pictures of that.

We also got to meet a few people from the church, and then I won a door prize!
I won St. Patrick's Day dish towel and pot holder. Which I love since I'm on a mission to collect dish towels for every holiday.

So that was Thursday.
Today we went to a consignment sale and bought a bunch of used but in great condition clothes for baby. She's been growing so much lately that she's almost out of all her clothes. Plus it's getting warm now and I don't have any summer things for her.
I've been buying 18 month clothe for her, but today I bought 24 month clothes. My baby is growing so fast!

 On the way home we stopped by a liquor store to get some wine and brandy. I snapped these pictures of William coming out of the store with his brown paper bag. He has such a guilty look on his face like he's up to something that it made me laugh.

 On the drive home we passed amazing trees in bloom. Spring and Sprung in Tennessee!