Beauty and the Beast

Last week Mom and I took Ava to see the junior high production of B&B at the high school. They were actually pretty amazing considering how young they were. Anyway, it was Ava's first play and I wasn't sure how she would do. We successfully managed to avoid the $5 light up roses, as I could picture it in the junk (I mean toy) box a mere five minutes after we got home. Then we got our seats in the nosebleed section and waited.

Ava's first comment after it started was that Belle was not wearing the right dress but I assured her that she would change. And the comments kept coming for the entire play. "What did she say momma? Why is she leaving momma? That's the Beast momma! He's mean now but he'll be nice later." And so on and so forth. Then it was time for intermission and the lights came on. I turned to see my horrified child start sobbing uncontrollably and asked what was wrong. "Theeeey diiiiidn't faaaalllll in juuuv momma!" She seriously said it so loud that our entire section turned around and laughed. My poor girl doesn't know about intermissions and I had to gently explain that it wasn't over. They will fall in love and live happily ever after. All will be right in her world again.

So all in all the play was a success, although I think for the sake of other theater goers we will be waiting a little while before we attend another one.

When we were leaving she saw all the characters in the hallway and asked what they were doing. I told her they were talking to people and waiting for their mommies and daddies to pick them up. Then we left and saw Gaston standing behind the school talking to someone. She looked really scared and shifted her body away from him. Then she said in a whisper, "Don't yook momma, it's the bad guy! He's waiting for his bad mommy and daddy to pick him up." Oh I wish I had a picture of the look on her face.

Just say no...

I think I might have a smoker on my hands. He's got a crazy oral fixation, sucks his thumb so hard that he now has a callous, and every time he gets his thumb in his mouth he looks like he's lighting up.

Hsieh family fun day

Last Wednesday we thought Ben had pink eye so he got a sub for Thursday, and then when he woke up it was pretty much gone. So we took advantage of our free day and the sun and headed downtown. First we went to the park by the rose garden and let Ava run free and coat herself in the mud (thankful for reversible jackets.)

Then we headed to this really fun part of the city that we don't know anything about and found a great second hand children's store. We also wanted to try out the food carts, which are a quirky Portland thing, so we walked down and found them in a small parking lot. I have been craving New Mexican food and there's supposed to be this really good cart that's run by the drummer of the Shins who's from there, and his Grandma taught him how to cook. Mostly I wanted sopapillas but the other items on the menu also looked amazing. Unfortunately he was taking too long to open his cart and the other one's smelled so good that I caved for a pizza, rice bowl, and chocolate shake. It was so fun and all the food was really good so I think it will be a fun area to get to know better.

After that we went to Pioneer Square (a Portland staple) and let Ava run around. Then we took the free train up to Finegans toy store and ended with a Pomegranate lemonade from Nordstroms. Ava skipped her nap and Ian was a trooper the whole day. It was so good to have unexpected family time. I can't wait to have Ben home for the summer and have more days like these.

Before I forget...

Ava: Momma, I want God to live here with us because I love him the bestest!!!

Me: I know honey but He is always here with us even though we can't see Him.

Ava: (Serious look on her face) I am going to cut my heart out so I can see him and keep him here with us always!

I'm not sure if that's really sweet or if I should be seriously concerned.

Smile!

Ava had her first trip to the dentist last week and she did great. I was so proud of her as I was in a different section and she was by herself. I could hear her making all these jokes and cracking everyone up. I wish I could have videotaped her little voice. "What's back and white, back and white, back and white? A penguin wolling down the hill" "Toot, tootsy toot! ha ha! I'm pretty funny!" "Can I have more of that sparkle stuff on my teeth. I need to go show momma the sparkle stuff!" And then there were times I could hear the nerves in her voice like when the dentist came in and wanted to look at her mouth and she was afraid the light would be too bright in her eyes and she told the assistant, "I think you need to find my special glasses." She was such a big hit that she got to make four trips to the prize bucket. Although one was for a special sticker for me because, "you were bwave too momma!"

Daddy Love

I caught this sweet moment looking out the kitchen window while making dinner.

Ben and mini-Ben watching Ava dance in Pioneer square

Daddy showing off Ian's new vans

snapshots

5am-unusually early morning wake-up call from Ian/feed #1 and put him in bed w/me

("why did we stay up until 11:30 watching the Informant?")

6am-wake up after having a nightmare that a dog was eating my hand and realize that Ian's been sleeping on it

7am-feed #2 & call from Ava in the downstairs bathroom to help her as she's smeared new toothpaste all over the sink

("why didn't I hide the new toothpaste")

8am-feed #3 & attempt #1 to put Ian down for a nap

("maybe he'll take a long nap and I can dry my hair today!")

8:30-quick shower/makeup

("I am SO ready to stop pulling out post-pregnancy handfuls of hair each morning!")

8:40-bring crying Ian downstairs and try to eat cereal while holding him

8:45-after putting Ian over my shoulder he throws up all over my hair/back/pants/floor

("deep breath and thank you Ian for not throwing up directly into my mini-wheats")

9am-shower #2

("I wish I was brave like that girl in 500 days of summer and could just cut all my hair off right now")

9:15-while drying my hair Ava runs in screaming that she has to go potty and as I pick her up realize that she's just gone all over the floor and all over her new Easter dress that she insisted on wearing today

("I am so thankful that I have 6 bottles of 409 and a roll of paper towels in every room of the house")

10am-rescue screaming Ian for feed #4 and unsuccessful nap attempt #2 while putting Ava in timeout for sneaking 3 oranges after I told her she could only have one

("I wonder what would be the most probable illness I could fake to get more painkillers from my doctor? and, I never thought I would be punishing my child for eating too much fruit")

10:15-put both kids in the tub

11am-make Ava lunch while Ian cries in his bouncy seat

12-take both kids outside to sit in the sun and Ian poops through his onesie and outfit

("perfect timing on the bath momma!")

12:30-feed #5 and put both kids down for SUCCESSFUL nap attempt #3

("I am so thankful that I didn't have a chance to change out of my jammies so I can go right back to sleep")

The sad part is that Ben's going to come home tonight and ask what I did today and I'm going to say, "nothing."

Easter weekend

Easter weekend went by in a blur and I don't feel like we really did anything. I spent a lot of time baking and preparing for Easter breakfast and then lunch with my parents. On Saturday we took Ava to my parents church for Easter themed games and lots of candy. Then before I went to bed the night before Easter I made a couple clues and put them in eggs for Ava to find her basket. I put one beside my bed so I could give it to her first thing in the morning. So she comes in with Ben and the baby and I tell her that the Easter bunny gave me this clue for her to find her basket. I make a pretty big deal about it and then she opens it and it's empty inside. So after searching the house and not finding it I quickly made another one (Ben laughing the whole time) and give it to her. She finally hunts down her basket and starts opening eggs and they're all empty! (I forgot to put the candy in them.) She did like all the other stuff and eventually I filled her eggs but it just showed how exhausted I was and I took a long nap on Sunday. Here are a few snapshots of our weekend.

Making Easter cupcakes with Ava's buddy John

our one decent picture of the two of them

after a long day

flowers from Ben...awwwww :)

Ava on the meaning of Easter

Ian's new tricks

Oh the things only a mother can be proud of... :)

Little gymnast

Today I took Ava to an open gym not to far from our house and it was awesome. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when we walked in. I would love to sign her up for gymnastics class but we can't really afford it right now so these $5 gym times will have to do. She's such a physical kid and she's so coordinated that I think she would do really well. When we saw my parents for dinner they asked her what her favorite part was and she looked at them and said in a very slow and serious voice, "You can do a somersault anywhere you want." :) Here's a few highlight videos.

Easter

A few weeks ago I was at Costco having lunch with Ava and I noticed an older couple coming out of the store. The man was not walking well and she had to help him over to a bench while she went and got the car. I don't know why they caught my eye but I watched the man as he sat and waited. He had such a look of sadness in his eyes and I thought about how his dignity had been stripped away. He wasn't able to help his wife get the car or load the groceries. He had to watch her push the heavy cart to the car and put the giant bags away. He had to wait for her to come back just so she could help him shuffle his way to the passenger seat. The whole scenario made me so sad that I started crying in the food court and tried to brush away the tears before Ava saw me. Sometimes I feel so lost in this world and I don't want to be here. The desire for redemption literally makes my heart ache. This season our church has been going through Isaiah and the servant songs about Jesus. One thing that has challenged me was the idea that we should experience joy in the hope of redemption. I can't even really imagine how that would look. That I would see all the pain and devastation in this world and be at peace with it because one day God will make it right. I guess I've always had hope in that perfect future but never really felt like it made the sin in the world ok. Maybe that's what redemption is, finding out that there was a reason and a purpose for even the most horrible circumstance. My prayer this Easter is that I will not only be thankful for what Jesus did a long time ago but for the joy in knowing that one day we will see the whole picture of what He's done and all of it will be beautiful.