Thank Goodness The Daddy is Home!

Todd in Osaka, Japan














Osaka Castle

















Bella was the winner of a round of musical chairs at the annual spaghetti dinner hosted by the town fire station. Her prize - a cake topped with bugs made by our friends Libby & Jenny.















The daddy is home at last and we are sooooooooo glad to be back to NORMAL.

Daddy in Japan

YerTheBestDaddy has arrived safely in Japan. Where in Japan, I can't exactly remember because right now it is 1:03am in the morning in WI and I should be asleep, but just stayed up watching an on demand movie. Best get meself to bed. The girls will be out of school again tomorrow due to WI cold

Todd sent along several photos from a factory tour in Vietnam. He is getting a real education in the factory industry across southeast Asia.

Bed time until Sponge Bob rises again at 6:30am, 'lo just five short hours from now.

Holding Steady at -8

Schools closed too cold and here we sit
watching diffused light cross cloud painting ceiling
piled in a jumble of stuffed animals old & new
three girls entwined & warm
with nothing much to do.

Photo by Wild Iris

Sick & Home Again

We've been home with a sick Bella for another 1.5 days. Thank goodness that I have an understanding employer and it's a new year so I have sick time. Monday night Bella started to have a mild allergic reaction to her antibiotic. We skipped the antibiotic on Tuesday morning and I sent her off to school, but just missing one dose sent her back into a sick tailspin and she was home by noon. She is taking new medicine now and back on the mend, but still felt sick this morning. It's been a pretty decent day here at home. Bella's felt better and better, da mama got the house clean, laundry done, checkbook balanced, etc. The girls have been playing with dollies all afternoon together without fighting or arguing. And tomorrow is Thursday already. Just two more days of work, then a fun Saturday (going to see a movie, then to the annual firehouse spagetti dinner) and then daddy will be home on Sunday. Yeah!

Here is a pic of Bella and Iris playing with the internet site "Star Dolls" last night. Basically this is an electronic version of playing paper dolls, except that one can dress celebrities and/or create their own "star" and buy virtual clothes, etc. Our babysitter Jenna showed Bella the site last weekend and she' s been obsessed with it ever since then. She especially likes an activity that lets her design fabric patterns and clothes. I think we might have a graphic designer on our hands here:
Goofy Ruthie has enjoyed staying home by default for all these days. She sure does have fun at home:

Aunt Ali called this afternoon and asked the girls to be flower girls in her wedding. Of course they both accepted (after asking exactly what a flower girl does) and now they are incorporating wedding play into their dolly imagination game. Aunt Ali and Uncle Matt are looking at a place this weekend for a possible Sept-Oct wedding in the mountains of Vermont. We are very excited about the possibility and will share more with their permission once confirmed!

Thanks to those of you who have passed along advice relative to Bella's recent friend difficulties. I appreciate hearing from all of you, thank you for visiting the site, and encourage you to post comments! That's what a blog is for and we love to share.

Vietnam

Vietnam
Todd has traveled from China to Vietnam. In the interest of not racking up huge communication bills, we've not been talking overly much. His impressions of Vietnam so far seem to include lots of motor bikes, crazy electric lines (see photo attached), and a renewed appreciation for the circumstances in which we live now. We are lucky, lucky ducks. (I hear what you are saying, Uncle Phil, and "Quack Quack" back at ya from the luckiest duck of them all.)

This piece is called "We Miss Daddy"

Original photo by Bella. Futzing in Adobe In Design by Da Mama.

Greetings from China

We received an e-mail today from the daddy as follows:

Hi Girls,

How have you been? I’ve been very busy over here. Since we last talked, Daddy has had many experiences.

On Thursday, we visited our vendor who makes computers. They were a very interesting group of people. Their story is great and I will tell you all about them when I get back. The owners took us to lunch and it turns out that I was dining with Hong Kong elite. Very strange to be sitting with one of the richest families in the country. That night we had Indian food (yummy) and we went to bed.

On Friday, rode on a ferry over to China to visit our new waterproof bag vendor. It was interesting to see how we build a relationship with a new vendor. That night we had diner at a traditional Chinese restaurant and went to bed early.

Today, we drove several hours to my next vendor. They our racks and water bottle cages. We are going to go on a tour of the factory and finalize our lineup for 2010.

I will email more when I have time. Attached are a couple of pictures from my adventures.

I love you all and miss you very much!"

Sick Day #2

We stayed home again today with One Sick Bella. Doctor says it looks as though she has Strep Throat and she's been medicated. Our picture of the day was actually taken in the early morning hours when I finally went to bed after watching yet another depressing HBO documentary and I discovered three girls in my bed:I also heard from Todd last night. He and his group had just crossed the border into China. He sounded good, but so far away and was going into a meeting with a vendor. We love you Toddy! Write again soon!

Local Daisy Troop Taken to Jail

Thursday we all stayed home with One Sick Bella with complaints including a headache and sore throat. Her skin was also much paler than normal. After a full day of rest, though, she felt well enough to attend her monthly Daisy Scout meeting. The Scouts went on a tour of the local police station - very interesting. Little Sis Iris got to go along and even sat in a police car. The police officers were all nice and I recongized several of them, including OfficerPulledMeOver ForABurnedOutHeadlight and OfficerPulledMeOverForGoingFiveMPHOverTheSpeedlimit. I think I even recognized StateTrooperPulledMeOverForGoingEightyMPHOnTheInterstateWhileDrivingWithAn
ExpiredLicense!

Daddy Safe in Hong Kong

After 24-hours of travel, the daddy arrived safely in Hong Kong. He sent our picture of the day of an outdoor market:
He and his collegues will be in Hong Kong until Friday when they take a train into southern China. His current hotel:

http://hongkong.eatonhotels.com/en/info/hong_kong_hotels.htm.

E-mail and the internet make the world seem so small. Tonight while the girls cut out paper snowflakes, we listened to "Radio Television Hong Kong" streaming live on the computer. Then we received an e-mail from daddy and the girls both sent him messages back. It's a great learning experience for us all.

Girls Rock

Tonight after the standard dinner and reading of books, the girls rocked out in the living room.

Bella was on guitar and Iris on lead vocals. Mommy formed the Ever Present Audience and Band Photographer.
Later, I developed the graphic art for Bella's first album cover:



Also, Bella received her first kiss from a boy other than her daddy/grandpas today. Immediately upon my arrival to after school care, she reported angrily, "Anthony KISSED me on the HAIR today. He is a COO-COO BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This is the last night together before YerTheBestDaddy leaves for a 12-day trip to Asia. He had one last opportunity to be a hero after Bella was ATTACKED by a GIANT HORSE FLY in the hallway on her way to bed. The horrific creature gravely injured her on the arm, forcing her to flee down the stairs, trip on her blanket, and land softly on her brand new "water baby". Thank goodness that water baby broke her fall and daddy was right there to interpret her story of woe and then give lots of hugs and reassurance (without laughing)!

January 4

Today we sold the mini van, bought a new rug for the living room that doesn't show so much dog hair, and then our favorite friends came over for a Wii and pizza party. Today was a good day!

Misc Holiday Pics

Opening pretty holiday outfits from Grandma Sherry.

Christmas Eve and Aunt Ali and (soon to be!) (officially!) (congrats on your engagement!) Uncle Matt.

Christmas Eve dinner table

2009 Pictures of the Day

We so enjoyed celebrating the holidays with family near and far. We miss everyone very much! In this new year, I am working on a scrapbook of photos of the day. I'll drop as many of them into this blog as I can. Some of them might be boring. . . but, hey, that's life sometimes!

1-3-09: We visited with Grandpa, Grandma Pam, and Fair Uncle Will. The girls enjoyed getting their "water babies" that they'd been wishing for all year.

1-2-09: I took a vacation day with the girls. We played with our American Girls for most of the morning. We pretended the girls were having a fundraiser for an animal hospital. Bella posed this picture of our girls with their animals at the fundraiser.
1-1-09: After a late night at U.S. Bank Eve, we relaxed most of New Years' Day at home. The girls all have "leisure suits" and we take an oath to remain in them for as much of the coming weekend as possible.