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Typical Morning Vignette

Each morning I plant the four yahoos around the table and clean the kitchen or try to do some work on the computer as they eat breakfast before we head out the door. This morning struck me as quite funny and very typical with the crazy kids that I live with.

Noley: "I'll take a burrito with a fork...mom did you remember to bring in the violins from the car?...

MeiMei: " Mom do you know what I am thankful for...(secretly hoping I will be somewhere in the answer)...I am thankful for carrots...gum...cookies...and for learning to write and read...Oh and I will take a burrito cut in half with a fork...not a big fork one of the small forks"...

HooHaa: " MeiMei did it!"

Tobbers: " Mom I've been having visions of the future again...they are happening at night when I sleep...Mom why is it that only the second tier of the fountain froze this morning? Oh and Mom do you know what I am thankful for? ... (again secretly hoping one of four children is thankful for moi)...I am thankful for the big bang...because without it none of us would be here.

Moi: (to myself) I am thankful for pots of coffee....and "I am thankful for all of you! and my morning coffee"

And so is my morning...

All she wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth...

Oh yeah that's right...Noley is in the marketplace for two new teeth to replace the two permanent teeth that she broke in half yesterday. So much for the dental insurance that we lost last month. Well, we are off to the dentist to shop for some new teeth. What is it with these Tomatoes? Noley will join both her father and sister in the two front teeth Christmas camp... Buying new teeth for my daughter was not exactly what I had in mind for a Christmas present.

Stephanie, this post is for you...

There is a woman in China who is conducting some research for families of children from Wuzhou Social Welfare Institute in Wuzhou, Guangxi province. Of course when I heard about this I wanted to know more. Our little MeiMei is a Wuzhou girl but with a twist. She is only one of two girls that I am aware of that started their lives in the Teng County SWI in Wuzhou.
After three years of searching for information on this SWI, I know no more than when I started. With this research I am hoping to learn more about where MeiMei spent the first year of her life and the nature of why she was transferred to Wuzhou SWI. Lucky for us...because her transfer made it possible for her to find her way into our home. Stephanie also has a Teng girl who was living in the orphanage when our MeiMei was there. It appears that both girls were transferred at the same time and were adopted a little more than one year apart from each other. One here in the big tomato and one in lone star state. Here are the photos that we first saw of our little MeiMei

Day 2 of the season and no signs of life...

*********************** Please someone come and HELP ME...we are two days into the Christmas season and there are no signs of it in Tomato home. I am paralyzed each year when it comes time to set up a tree, decorate it and make the house look happy and merry. I enjoy the looks of Christmas and love how peoples homes look all decorated. It's just I HATE decorating for Christmas.
I think I harbor too many years of being traumatized as a child from having to decorate a tree with "one piece of tinsel at a time" and placing ornaments in the "right spot with adequate space"...ahhhhh I hate trimming trees. I like tree trimming parties just don't ask me to do anything. I have adorable ornaments and lots of items to place around the home...I just don't want to do it.

I am happy to have kids now that I can let them do all of the decorating of the tree and such...however with that being said, there is just one problem to having children decorate your tree...check out the photos from Christmas pasts and you will see what I mean... (decorated Santa's---dead Polly pockets and Santa's accomplice, Barney with cap, horizontal trees aka fallen over for the third time, wreath wearing roosters and earthquake gingerbread houses...OY VAY!)

Home 1 month and 2 big milestones...

December first and it marks two HUGE milestones in my book. First Hoo read his first English word. "HOME" He was helping me put away some files in my office and saw the word Home on my Home Depo Stock file and said " Mama, Home Mama Home" as he pointed to the file. I said yes Hoo! I find the serendipity of a newly adopted child reading his first English word being "Home" quite amazing.

The second HUGE landmark milestone is that today Hoo officially starts morning kindergarten! Hallelujah! I have spent the past month with three morning drop offs at school and three afternoon pickups. It is INSANE. I am INSANE and have been on the precipitous brink of ... well something that I am sure would involve ETOH.

He has been sitting in an afternoon Kinder class that has been, well less than desirable by my tweaked standards (yes, I am accepting that I have different standards for my kids education than that state of California does) and he will finally leave the island of misfit toys to join the likes of the living.
So what does this mean for me? THREE HOURS OF BEING ABLE TO WORK! Oh yeah Baby! And when work gets busy in the springtime it means 4th R three afternoons a week....giving me SIX HOURS!
Notice the official HooHaa uniform. Jeans and an orange striped shirt. He refuses to wear anything but a striped shirt with a collar in either orange or blue. Nothing else (unless you count the superman PJ top)...or he will sneak off and change it back to orange or blue stripes. I am not used to have an opinionated boy. My boy experience is one that would wear anything I tell him including a potato sack. This is going to take some getting used to.