Charlie's Cute and We Like To Eat Fun Food

Let's start with a cute picture of Charlie...

 Poor guy gets to use the pink cup because

he doesn't know he's not supposed to like it.

Pink bib is one I made from a skirt project

that didn't quite turn out,

but made a nice bib.

 The latest Star Wars cooking creation...

 See if you can guess.

A piece of banana dipped in white chocolate...

 

 Rolled in crushed peanuts

and Kit Kat legs attached to the sides...

 See it?

See R2D2?

Uh, huh.

 Very tasty.

 But nevermind the banana.

And we'll end with another cute Charlie pic.

Toothbrushing and Dog Sledding

Charlie's foster mom said he did not like to brush his teeth.

I should send her this picture...

Herman and Herman brushing by the
heater vent in the bathroom.

 Charlie wants to brush 3-25 times a day.

He must have read my post about the dentist.

In other news...

 A real live Iditarod musher came to a nearby library.

It was so neat.

She has raced it three times,

airlifted out once.

Her entire team of 16 dogs and
her sled packed into a tiny plane.

She was a good story teller.

That's one of her dogs sitting on the floor,

and her purple sled.

 We follow the Iditarod each year,

sometimes choosing a musher to follow

and keeping track of when they stop at the check points.

It takes 8-15 days to finish the race.

The race is always the first weekend in March.

Here's a promo video for the Iditarod...
good music.

You can see it over at YouTube also.

The Family Business

Mr. Reuben has quickly learned that work = money.  He likes having money.  So he doesn't mind the work.

"I get to go shovel snow!"

 Fresh out of bed into the snow pants.

Bright orange hat keeps them visible.

 Scary man who always goes out with them.

Paul is so good about supporting and guiding

Peter and Reuben with their business.

He's teaching them about customer service,

work ethic, and money management.

He's so great.

 While the big boys are out...

...Charlie discovered that all the Wookie Cookies were gone.

(He needed his coat on too

since everyone else was putting theirs on.)

 So we moved on to his usual breakfast of yogurt.

Today it is mixed with pumpkin and applesauce.

And I baked pumpkin scones.

 

 Charlie's first stage of training.

Observation.

 Rube comes in after two or three jobs

while Paul and Peter finish the rest.

Pumpkin scone and warm tea for him.

 Peter's back and writes up his bills to keep track.

They'll go back out later to collect their earnings.

Then Paul will help them divide it and separate it into

Saving, Giving, and Spending jars.

Reuben currently has five 1 dollars in his Spending

and he looks at them a lot.

He is wanting to buy a metal detector,

which he always calls a smoke detector.

A Look At The Calendar

Coming up in our household...

Today at 10 a.m. the snow shall arrive.  Han-burgers and R2D2 Treats for dinner.  Still cooking from the Star Wars Cookbook we are.

Friday, Reuben will go to the homeschool P.E. class at 9:30 a.m.

Saturday, Peter is going to Bennett's birthday party, which has thrown me and Reuben off all week.  I keep seeing it on the calendar and thinking, "What Bennett party?  All the Bennetts live on the west coast?  Oh, Peter's classmate Bennett.  Right."  Confusion over.  Replaced by disappointment that I don't get to see any of my Bennett relatives.  Reuben keeps referring to Bennett as Dave, which cracks me up.  Dave is my brother.  Dave Bennett.

Sunday, Peter will formally become a Christ-follower as he has declared his fervent desire to be baptized.  Paul and I are both just a bit hesitant for Peter to make such a commitment at age eight, but also inwardly pleased at his understanding of the Bible.  We are looking forward to his future of loving and serving God with his life.

I think on Monday Paul shall take me on a date.  To Almost Home restaurant.  For dessert.  Except I've sworn off sweets forever (this would be day two of forever) in an attempt to never (NEVER!) have another cavity that needth filling.  Oh my goodness, please, never again.  So, a different sort of date then.

Oh, the snow has arrived.  A swirling, blustering snow that may require a reading of Winnie the Pooh today.

Nothing on Tuesday, perhaps a trip to the Children's Museum then.

Wednesday... Piano lesson at 4 p.m. for Peter.  New Bible study with Trent and Tina at 6 p.m.  This is an exciting one.  They have come to an understanding of their need for Christ to forgive them, heal them, and make them new and will soon be baptized.  We are going through Romans with them and making many stops as we study to answer their questions and clarify things.  I really like studying the Bible this way - with a small group, with new believers, with lots of audience participation.

Ooo, Thursday I get to help in Peter's Art class at school.  Love helping at school.

Ha.  Charlie just came to me and pulled me into the kitchen.  Before motioning me to open the fridge, he paused to dance to Mat Kearney on the radio.  Good taste he has.

Next Saturday morning my Sunday School class of moms and grandmas is meeting to make cinnamon rolls.  So fun.  Learning from the experienced, kneading dough, drinking coffee, enjoying grownup conversation.  Yes please.

Then the grand finale of the month, on the last Sunday we will sojourn to the only Lego Store in the state where Peter will shop with his birthday money!  He will be nine on February sixth.

This is our January life.  Some highlights anyway.

The Dentist

For three weeks I've been dreading today's dentist appointment.  More than I've ever dreaded one in the past.

I really like my dentist and the whole office staff.  And I think about writing them a letter to tell them so.  But about every other year she seems to think I have a cavity or two.  This year she felt like I should have two.  On opposite sides of my mouth, of course.

So I'm a redhead at heart, though it is not so apparent as I've aged and have moved to the Midwest where the sun does not lighten my hair as it does in California.

I mention this because redheads can sometimes have a hard time getting numb or staying asleep with anaesthetic.  It has happened to me.  More than once.  I woke up during a foot surgery, yes I did, and told them I could feel them tugging at my foot.  And I have felt the horrific pain of the dentist's drill.  Thus I dread, dread, dread having a cavity filled.

The emotional buildup over the last three weeks overflowed from the corners of my eyes as I laid back in the dentist's chair today.  She was wiping away my tears.  I was wiping away my tears.  And then when it was all over and she sat me up, the streams burst forth.  It was not pretty with my numb face.  The dentist laughed at me.  Which always feels nice when you're in the depths of despair.

Meanwhile, Peter was in the next cubicle getting four fillings.  You'd think we suck on sugar sticks all day.  So I compose myself and we walk up to the front counter to pay our bill, sniffing a little bit.

Five hundred seventy-six dollars.  Oh my.  I cried a little more in the car.

This all reminded me of the one and only time I tried to donate blood.  I mentally geared up for days and days.  Maybe weeks.  I can't remember.  But I didn't want to do it.  But I was going to be tough.  Tough!

Newly married Paul and I go to the blood place and we fill out the forms and wait and I'm all tense and almost sick.  Then they take me back and prick my finger to test my blood and turns out my iron was low so I would not be able to give blood after all.

Do you know what happened next?  I cried.  I went and found Paul all hooked up and reclining, like he'd done twenty times before.  He and his high school friends supposedly would go give blood together.  For fun.

So I'm at Paul's side trying to hold in my blubbering, "They won't let me give blood."  Kind of funny that I was now crying because I couldn't give blood.  But all that emotional energy of trying to be tough was wasted.  It had to be released somehow.

So that is how I'm feeling tonight.  All bleh because of long-term dread build-up and the anticipation of pain.

The good part (there's always a good part, right?) is that we will soon be fixing Jawa Jive Milkshakes on page 20 of the Stars Wars Cookbook.

The cavity-fighting milkshakes.

By the by, Paul has been having a good time lately labeling everyone's problems (mine mostly) as 'first world problems' thus denying me any sympathy and devaluing my problem.  So if you'd like to offer sympathy, empathy, or a simple "there, there", please do.  I'm  not getting any love here.

Reuben Pizza

"It's not okay to kill your brother."

What I said to Peter and Reuben yesterday as a part of the Don't-strew-marbles-all-over-the-floor-while-Charlie-is-up speech.  Then I ran to remove a marble from Charlie's mouth.

"It's not okay to kill your brother."

What I said to Peter tonight as a part of the Don't-chase-Reuben-through-the-parking-lot speech.

We're working on helping each other survive more and get killed less.  It's a tough lesson to comprehend and I don't expect it to get any easier. 

In other news, we made and ate a Reuben Pizza.

Why would one do such a thing?

Because I have had sauerkraut in my pantry for two years and it was time to use it.

Some good friends of ours plant a large garden each year,

including more cabbages than they can eat.

So she makes her own sauerkraut.

And shares it with others.

And then it stares at you for two years until you figure out what to do with it.

This Southern Living Cookbook that I have has a whole page of Reuben recipes.

This pizza has thousand island dressing,

ham slices (instead of corned beef),

swiss cheese, and caraway seeds.

Oh, and sauerkraut.

Poor innocent child biting into what he thinks is a regular pizza-like substance.

 

Hmm, this tastes a little different.

And, why is Mom taking pictures of me eating it?

Sad, sad eyes.

Trying.

Peter, Paul, and I all ate a piece.

That was enough.

It wasn't horrible.

But it took a few days for the left-overs to get eaten.

So that took care of the jar of sauerkraut

from 2 summers ago.

Maybe by next year I'll come up with something to do

with the jar she gave me last summer.

Any kraut fans out there?

The Boys Have Been Busy

We got home from Korea on August 6.  Peter started school about a week later, so the three boys did not have much time together.  Peter had two weeks off from school this winter and it gave the boys some good playtime together...

 They booby-trapped the stairs

using pick-up-sticks and

oversized blocks.

Here's a view from the top.

You can't see the plastic bugs and soldiers standing guard.

 Rube wanted to make pretzels.

Kneading dough is a great winter time

energy-exerting activity.

Shaping them into meaningful letters and numbers.

C for Charlie

R for Reuben

and such.

I think this is the D for Dad.

We have only had 3 days of minor snow,

none worthy of sledding.

But they tried.

It's hard to see here,

but Rube is pulling Peter on a sled

across a gravel driveway.

I think they think one can sled

just because it's snowing.

It was in the 50s recently.

Weird January.

Slow business for Peter and Bros. Snow Removal.

Here's a dizzying video taken by Peter

of Reuben pretending to chase Charlie

through the house,

concluding with some ferocious faces by Reuben.

 A couple cousins came over to play.

They practiced their dare-devil trampoline skills.

This is how it's done.

 Then used the trampoline for a game of jumbo cards.

 Using Uncle Chase's CHP uniform to enhance a nerf battle.

 Paul and Rube made this pirate ship,

perfect b-day gift from the Bennettars.

Oh, Yes.

When Charlie and I arrived in San Diego for our

surprise spontaneous trip to visit my family in November,

his carseat came off the baggage claim in shreds.

It was wet, muddy, torn, and a strap and buckle

had been ripped off and were missing.

The carseat was destroyed and unusable.

The airport people said they

"unfortunately don't cover carseat damage,"

but then they gave me a free loaner seat to use in CA

and a check for $140 to buy a new one.

Well, thank you.

So the picture up there is of

Reuben and Charlie thoroughly enjoying

the box of the new carseat.

And, no trips to Urgent Care or the ER for a whole month!

Marble Painting

It started with an empty Harry and David box.  We were given a box of these lovely, delicious, delicate, juicy, perfect pears from Oregon.  Here's the very last one...

Now, what to do with the sturdy box...

 Drop a few marbles in paint

then roll them around in the lid.

 Here are two of Peter's creations.

Back to chubby cheeked Charlie.

This is how he felt when I declared painting time over.

He does not easily give up.

Officially Official

November 17th at ten minutes after ten o'clock in the morning,

Jae-min became Charlie Jae-min, a United States citizen, and the fifth member of our family!

We went into our capital city, to the seventeenth floor, were sworn in and promised to tell the whole truth so-help-me-God, committed to love and provide for Charlie as if he had come forth from my very own womb, and then the judge offered the boys some candy.

It was a happy, celebratory day.

 Here we are in the parking lot.

When we adopted Reuben we were not allowed to bring a camera into the building due to heightened security.  So this time we stopped a stranger in the parking lot to take our picture before we went in.  Turns out, security is lessened now and we could have brought our camera in to capture the moment with the judge.  Oh well.  Next time, right?  (There is no next time.  It was a joke.)

 Since we were in The City,

we went over to the Children's Museum,

where our three boys turned into Transformers.

For lunch we went to Naked Tchopsticks.

Some of you have been there with us for other Korean celebrations,

like Reuben's birthday.

  This is the Teriyaki Bento Box.

Chopstick lessons for Charlie.

The stab-n-jab is very effective.

Tasting something tasty.

Getting better every time.

Really yummy miso soup.

Astronaut ice cream we bought at the Children's Museum.

It took two years to go through the process to adopt Charlie.

But, we're not done yet.

I am waiting for his new birth certificate

so I can send it in with his application for his

Certificate of Citizenship.

Then I will use the Certificate of Citizenship

to get his social security card.

Then, we're done.

I think.

Oh, we still have post-placement visits

with our social worker

at 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months

after arriving home with him.

Then, ta-da! my adoption hormones go into hiding

and Charlie turns two.

Are we going to adopt again,

the world wants to know.

The better question here is,

"Are you going to adopt?"

Did you see that?

Enough about me, let's talk about you...