Faster phone.

With each phone upgrade I get a better camera.  This one captures way faster.  Fei got this shot of Jia today.  Hilarious.  I can crop right in the gallery too! 

Uh oh.

Jia and Luk were playing soccer and it started to pour.  Instead of running for cover they ran to jump in a puddle.  I've taught them well but clearly we're going to have some very wet kids this winter!

Meeting Oscar

Oh, sooo sweet.  Puppy love.  Nice visit with friends.  Kids had a great time.  They ended up leaving a bit earlier with the ferry uncertainty.  We aren't seeing much of a storm here but clearly other areas are.

It's a good day.

My Dad had a heart attack earlier this week, today he had a stint put in.  Today is a good day.  Feeling pretty grateful.  Mom and I are at Jubilee.  He just had the procedure.  Waiting to hear what is next.  We think he might get to go home today.  The last couple days have been tense to say the least.  Update, teeny heart attack, blocked artery, stint in, we get to take him home at 3. Second update, we did get to take him home at three.  He looks great.  Tired, hungry and a little sore.  Totally amazing to be home already.  

Eric took Luk for another ultra sound this morning and apparently his bowels let loose during the scan.  Poor kid.  Poor Eric.  Woefully unprepared.  Diapers and wipes in the car, not handy to the hospital.  Sigh.  The stool softener he's on isn't making our life any easier yet ;)

Jia has a robot dog that she adores.  I found a robot velociraptor (sp?) at the thrift store for two bucks.  She's right into dinosaurs right now so I was pretty excited to drag him home.  She was intrigued right up until Eric put batteries in him.  He hunts...sniffs the air and grunts and snaps and then walks towards you with his head going up and down and his tail swishing while he's hunting you.  He is awesome.  Jia is terrified of him.  She demanded he go down to the toy room with all the share toys.  Or the share room where toys go to get broken and die during play dates and parties.  Luk thinks he's pretty cool and was packing him around. Update, Jia isn't afraid of him today and they are both packing him around.  Hilarious to watch them petting the robot and talking to him.  I think his name is Moona.

Mom and I had time to kill waiting for Dad so we went to the mall of course.  I took advantage of the kid free shopping time and updated my phone.  Fei and I spent some time tonight playing with the new one.  Got the Note 4, liking it so far.  We had some laughs.  Our girlie is really fast and she was pretty patient with me ;)  Jia was super exited to join us playing with my Note 2, I told her I needed the old one for a minute and she promptly told me to go use the new one!  We also did some kid shopping.  Got pressies for Luk's Birthday.  Can't believe he turns 4 in three weeks. 

I've been having a riot in the convertible.  1500 kms in the first week!  We're all enjoying the top down.  Eric has been great about letting me galavant. 

Eric and I took the littles to the FCC-BC picnic in Parksville last weekend.   Sad turn out but we enjoyed meeting some new people, a couple old friends and another family I've  been in contact with for many years and finally met face to face.  The tug-o-war was a huge hit with Luk and Jia.  Luk got some pj's as the newest, youngest kid there.  He is delighted with his purple panda pj's.  Lili and Fei weren't with us, they did a 10k walk with Grampa and cousin Avery.

We have friends coming to the island tomorrow to pick up their new puppy!  Looking forward to a visit and excited to get some puppy time.

Massive Surprise!!

I'm not good with surprises.  Eric loves surprising me.  You'd think after all these years I'd get used to that.

He totally, 100% surprised me today!  I seriously had NO clue. He bought me a convertible.   DID NOT see that coming. 

The story has been leaking out all evening.  Some of it is hillarious.  He's been working on this since before we left on holidays.  He bought a car that wasn't running (had to be towed home) and he has been working on it in our garage for days.  I had no clue.   I'm obviously very observant ;)  Kids all kept quiet.  He got the last of his inheritance and used it to buy me a car.  So sweet. 

It's very pretty.   Runs like a dream.  It's in fabulous shape.  I always react badly to change and surprises.  It took me a few minutes to get on board.  Once I allowed myself to accept the gift the fun started.  Lots of cruising around the valley.  

I love the car, and I love my hubby for wanting to make me happy with a fun ride.  What a great guy.  Thank you Hunny!  Can't wait to drive it again tomorrow.

Fei's Gotcha Yesterday

Officially, I have talked to the girls in length about the term gotcha and why some kids and families don't like it.  My girls think it's cute.  It works for them and they understood what the moment they were placed in my arms means/meant to me and they are happy to hear about how much they mean to us.  They say they will be respectful of others choices of forever family day  or adoption day etc but they want our family to stick with gotcha.   It was more widely accepted 13 years ago.   Oh and big sisters really want the term for the Littles.

So, typically we look at pictures from their trips and tell stories about the moment we met and the gotcha kid picks what we eat for dinner.  Sort of a day to be special like a Birthday with way less hype, no presents and no cake.  Unless they picked cake for dinner but so far no one has. If I had a gotcha day I might pick cake for dinner.

Miss Fei has a heck of a time making choices. We were all over the place with plans for the day.  The smoke hanging in our valley was really messing with all of our plans.  In the end Eric and I made the choices.  Started with pancakes from Dad and then I read our travel emails from the old web page about Fei's adoption.  Fun memories.  Then a late curry lunch.  Strolled through an antique mall which although the kids don't all love that, Fei does.  Can't think of any shopping Fei doesn't like ;) We strolled downtown Chemainus and went to the candy store.  Stopped at a Bell store to get/order my new phone.  The girls and I walked in and announced we wanted the Note 5 and the sales man said "why would you want that one?!".  Yeesh.  I'm at the end of a three year and I adore my phone but the battery is getting weaker by the day.  So I thought I had a plan but now I'm reading all over again and back to considering the Note 4.  Finally we met Mom and Dad for a walk at the ocean and a nice break from the heavy smoke.  Even saw a big elk in a field full of deer. It was a nice relaxing day. I think Fei enjoyed herself.  Hopefully she is feeling special.  Luk and Jia said 'happy gatcha Fei' pretty much every time they saw her.

Closets

It's time for back to school shopping, which means going through closets.  You all know how much I hate playing in the clothes.  This year my Mama is doing the girls closets, she volunteered. Crazy.  She is done Lili and mostly done Fei.  The picture of clothing on my bedroom floor is what was culled and kept for Jia.  A good amount to goodwill too.  Now... where to store it ;)

A wedding costume was found in Fei's closet so Jia got a kick out of trying it on. 

Our wild ones tried to eat dinner with us tonight.  They run and hide when they're spooked, which is often.  Took us half an hour after dinner with most of us looking to find Charlotte, she was under Jia's bed behind her extra mattress.   Back to keeping them in the kitchen!  This house is way to big for little ferrals.  Man can they ever hide!

The Beast is back home.  Eric and Fei went to Hope to pick it up.  It was a pricey repair. $2400, hopefully it's good for another 35 years.  Eric reports that it drives better.

Friends of ours had their transmission go in their truck last weekend.  They borrowed the van and brought it back tonight.  With the added gift of home made vanilla ice cream and a big batch of her chocolate chip cookies which are fabulous and she knows how much I love them.  Thanks Debbie!  

Couch Buddies

The wild ones are having a quiet moment.  They're hanging with me by choice!  The little moments of success that mean so much in taming ferrals!

One month without Eugene.

Cat update.

Still really missing my little buddy.  It's been a month. I am always looking for him.  He followed me from room to room.  He hid in my closet.  Sometimes watched me sleep which was admittedly a little creepy ;)  He liked to watch the water drops on the glass when I showered.  He always joined us in whatever we were doing.  He was a Prince.  I've never had a pet go missing.  They've all died of old age.  This has been hard.  My imagination won't let go of the tragic ends and moments of suffering he may have experienced.  A lady from Ladysmith called happy to report that a neighbor came forward to say there had been a cougar sighting in the area and it was likely he was eaten.  Like that was a good thing.  She even used the words 'good that it was the circle of life'.  Bah.  I can't get on board with that.  Meanwhile another cat from the  area is missing and the rcmp believe it's likely a human in the area catching cats. 

The big girls and I drove to see the cat breeder who sold us Eugene.  She was sad to hear what happened and happy to tell is she has a litter of Eugenes siblings right now.  Same parents.  There are five kittens, three of them look like they might have the classic Himilayan markings, one is white and one is ragdoll.  They are only two weeks old.  Not sure we're ready to move on but they are sooo sweet and Eugene's sibling!  Waiting now to find out if there is a boy and if they have the siamese coloring.  Not a great picture but the only one we took.