Sparking To Learn

The big kids celebrated their birthdays last weekend in a joint YMCA swimming pool party. We had a small crowd, mostly girls, and lots of great fun. The PisecoClan came, with PisecoBabe hauling her wonderful camera. There was great enthusiasm about the swimming, the home-made cakes, and the gifts.

Those wacky Pisecofolk also gifted Emily with the promise of a future Daisy Rock guitar (shipping times were lagging and it did not arrive for the party) to match the Hannah Montana wristwatch in her gift bag. She was ecstatic when she found the note on the back of the watch after the party was over.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening celebrating the completion of one more year of crazy living for two of our growing monsters.

May you all have a happy, prosperous and wonderful New Year.

Anybody else celebrating Chinese New Year tonight/this week? We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve tonight, and my kids finally crashed after midnight which, according to tradition, means DH and I should live long lives.

Tomorrow we’re eating a huge veggie feast and playing games all day. I’ve hidden the brooms, knives, and scissors and gotten the last of the dishes clean before putting out the disposable dinnerware. Everyone bathed and I’ve ironed and laid out the new clothes for morning. There are 2 dozen GORGEOUS roses on my dining room table, and a stunning orchid in our living room. Oranges, clementines, mangos, coconut, sesame balls, lychee, and candy are tucked in into their red and gold boxes on the table.

The kids went to bed happy and tired, and clutching their lai see (hong bao if you’re Mandarin-speakers) in their hands. According to them, they’re “richer than kings today”.

Tomorrow there’s no cleaning or cooking and I’ll be trying to abstain from internet since I’ve promised myself that I’ll try my best to be completely in the moment with the family during this holiday, which is the most important one of the year for most of our family. It will be good to feel almost obligated to simply enjoy time with family and not be rushing around to sweep up crumbs or wash dishes or do another load of laundry. Of course, I’ll pay for that on Saturday when I have a 2 day backup of everything….but that’s Saturday and today is the first day of the New Year so I’m not going to dwell on tomorrows until I’ve fully experienced today.

Here’s a link to see the dragon:
Dragon Dance

Sweet dreams and, again, Happy New Year to all of my friends!
~L

Since our swimming lesson was tossed aside due to parade blockage of the road, we tossed all our plans for the day up in the air and winged it completely.

We went to The Spot for a delicious lunch, then drove out to Black Bear Winery and picked up some booze. On the way back from the Winery we stopped at Coldstone Creamery for some super-de-duper ice cream creations.

It was a super-expensive but incredibly fun afternoon.

Post-fun time, I mopped the kitchen and took a reading break. Then we loaded up the van full of kids and headed off to Wegmans for groceries. After spending even more money, we came home and absolutely crashed. The kids ate random bits and pieces of leftovers and filled in the corners with rotisserie chicken.

There has been some watching of DVR’ed television and some wishing for sleep to hit the kids.

Through all of this, there’s been a tiny electrical spark of excitement because it’s less than 24 hours till the Piseco Clan end up in Guatemala to pick up their baby girl.

Oh, what a wonderfully tiring day.

~L