NAICAD

About a week and a half ago this is what I found on the walls by our bedroom. I was a little shocked to say the least. First he's never written anything on the walls and now his name in marker on my walls from right to left. Hmmm... I asked at my school and all the teachers assured me this is normal and also said it's a good thing he was able to write his letters the right way. They assured me that in Kindergarten kids write their names more with their letters backwards enough that if you place a mirror in front it of it looks just right.

I was told that marker can come off the walls with magic eraser. Dacian heard me talking about this magic eraser and is now begging me to not buy anything magic to erase his precious name. I know he is proud of himself. If only he'd done it on paper.... Love my cute boy.

April Fools=Dacian's birthday, 4 years old

I never cared for this day until I had Dacian. I was upset I was going to have him that day. I mean I was induced late on the 31st and I knew I wouldn't have him that day since we went to the hospital at 9pm. On the 27th on March I was told they would induce that day and then I was called back and told the "inn" was full of laboring women and that I can't come. The next day the same, and the next day the same and I was going nuts. I being due on the 19th of March never imagined I would have an April baby. All this time I was still working and I was just mad I was taking sick days out of my maternity leave just waiting around to get the call to go to the hospital. Of course magically on the 31st the said "inn" had room and they called me to come in or wait until the morning. Now that was a crucial call on my part. Do I go in now late at night and basically start this induced labor which I knew would not be the ideal and end up with a Fools baby or do I tell them that I will wait one more day because I didn't want an April Fools baby? Well, maybe I was embarrassed to say that to the nurse, maybe I really liked my baby being born on the first day of the month and maybe I just NEEDED to have him and be done being pregnant. Whatever the reason I am glad I went in, I wouldn't trade that day for anything. It's his special day and I think it's kind of even cute now to say that's when his b-day is. I found myself wishing that my new nephew who could be born any day now got his own birthday and not be born today of all days. (which I know his parents also don't want probably for the same reasons I was thinking and because it's more fun I think for each cousin to have their own day.) Am I selfish or what? I mean I didn't want to share my birthday with Lavinia and thankfully she came 2 days later.

Anyway Dacian is not at an age to get jokes so well especially anything that would make him look like a fool so we skipped joking. I asked him to play a joke on dad and he came up with some silly made up word. Okay, I thought, we'll give this another go next year.

Today was a really fun day. We went to McDonalds this morning and got breakfast and played on the cool playground. I was going to just go through the drive thru but when I got to the one by our house I saw a big sign "Cash only" so of course never having cash around with me I went to another one in Redmond. That was great because it has a huge playground indoors unlike the one by our house so I took the kids out there and played for a good hour. Lavinia had a great time too. My parents came there at my request later since I wanted to go shopping with them and have them help with the kids. I wanted to buy Dacian a bike but I couldn't find one anywhere for a good price or even a used one. I tried Craig's list but no one emailed me back so I guess I'll keep on looking.
We bought the food and cake and I went home to get the little party ready for my son. We only invited two little boys this year and I really liked it so much more this way. With my parents, my aunt and the kids' parents it made for a really full house. Last year it was hectic exactly because we had more kids and more parents and I like that but my living room is not that big and I couldn't afford to rent a place.
Anyway, the kids started playing with Dacian's toys to the point where they didn't even care for food or any activities I had planned. So instead of four things that I had planned we only did two. We made pizzas together and they really liked that and even ate their pizzas and also I boiled some eggs and had them put an egg on a spoon at take it across the room without it falling. It was hilarious for the adults watching these kids first going so carefully and then when they saw the eggs were not stable on the spoon they went right on holding the egg with the other hand and made it there safely. I wanted to do it again with them but back to the cars they went.
 It reminds me of when I was little and we always had a birthday party. In Romania (at least my family and friends) however birthdays are not so fancy as they are here. There the parents get together and chat in one room and eat great food while the kids have food and play whatever they want in another room. Here it's a lot about games and here I was prepared with games and the kids could care less. I guess that's how it is with a first born, live and learn. Lavinia will be a different story. :)

We had cake (sadly I ran out of time for making my own but I got an excellent ice cream cake) and everyone's mouths, tongues and teeth turned blue or red from the frosting. Kind of weird to think I put that junk in my tummy but the cake was really tasty food coloring aside. Of course finally came the much awaited present opening. Dacian was in heaven to receive more cars and a cool iron man from his good friend Taylor, games, clothes, and other stuff. Just so spoiled.

He had a really good time playing with his friends and just being celebrated. He was really good all day long, happy and sweet. Thankfully he slept for 13 hours last night after a rough day the day before on not so much sleep. I am so glad he caught up with his sleep before this party or it could've been a disaster.
We love you with all our hearts sweet boy. You always make us laugh. We are so proud of you. Stop getting so big so fast.

I learned something new

I love it when I learn something new. I love it when people have free tutorials on their blogs. I love it when people recommend cool sites. The thing I learned today was how to make my pictures look bigger on my blog. I have wanted to do this for a while now and I learned how tonight. What to do when my kids are in bed, I've napped and Shane is hanging out with a friend tonight? Well, I'm so excited I know how to do this now. I had to get rid of my cute template but I like the plain just as well. Anyway, here's a  few pictures I was playing with as I was trying out the new size. It's so easy. This is where I found it, if anyone is interested. Click here 

Pretty Valentine's!

I am not much of a crafty person even though I think if I had more time I would enjoy it and do it more. Yesterday I remembered that for Dacian's preschool Valentine's party we had to do 23 cards. I could've bought them but the store bought ones seem so dumb so I decided for FHE we would do this fun craft tonight. Last year my friend Jessica made these with her kids and I couldn't wait until Dacian was a little older and he could do them with me. Plus last year he didn't go to school so I didn't need to make any.

I think they are so cute. Apparently you could tie them up with pretty thread and I am sure you could use all sorts of papers but I like the brown one. Dacian had fun embellishing them with these cute heart stickers and he also wrote his name on quite a few of them. They have been practicing writing their names at preschool and I was glad to see he can almost remember how do it it all. He kept looking at the ones that were done to copy and write his name on new ones. I thought that was pretty smart. He even got to write the C and N the right way since earlier they were totally backwards. Lavinia participated too and she liked playing with all the sticker and she put them on the hearts only they were't sticking since I didn't peel them off for her. She made a mess and then cleaned it up and gathered all the little pieces.

Anyway I guess that's all for now. I'm going to bed.

More sadness!

We recently got back from Shane's cousin's funeral. I still cannot believe that she is gone. It was so hard getting the news and also so hard to see her parents and brother completely heartbroken. I was completely emotionally drained by the end of the funeral.

My husband is a quarter native american and his cousin was born and grew up on an Indian reservation up in Canada. She was only 23 and left behind a beautiful 1 year old. She had this autoimmune disease that she discovered having about three years ago. She was able to carry the pregnancy and had a wonderful little boy whom she loved and mother so well.

She was beautiful, kind, smart and all around a wonderful person loved dearly by so many.

The funeral lasted 3 whole days. First the family got together and sang songs, cried and told stories about Meagan and then the next day they moved the body from the parents' house to a bigger building. There friends and family gathered and had pretty much done a wake like the one for just family. The next day, Monday was the funeral. It was packed, and more than 100 people I think stood for almost 4 hours. There was aboriginal drumming, a flutist and songs and dances and stories. Her mom talked about her daughter and that just touched me so much. I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child. At the same time I loved how full of faith they were, truly believing that they would see her again and that she was reunited with other lost family members. I felt peace in knowing that that was true. After the funeral we went up to the family land an hour away on dirt roads up in the mountains to bury her. I am so glad it didn't snow as I don't think we would've made it. It was pretty muddy. At one point the car line stopped for quite a while. Soon I saw a bunch of people on horses. They led the way after that. I think that's another Indian custom but most like it was because Meagan loved horses.

Afterwards we went back and were fed a wonderful meal with delicious fry bread and other goodies. It is truly touching to me how their community is so tightly nit together. They do take care of each other and grieve together and help each other out.

God rest her soul and I pray that her family will be able to go beyond this very difficult time.

Pixel

Meet Pixel. No, we didn't get another ferret. We only had her for a week. Dacian was in love with this new pet that he could hold and carry everywhere. I think he played a little too much with her. She was very gentle and just an easy pet. She stayed in her cage most of the time. I love ferrets because they are very personable, they are easily potty trained, they are smart and mischievous. It made me miss our old ferret. However, I will not get any other pets and I am determined to not have any other pets after Tomi, our dog dies. He's in good shape for 14 and I think he might still have 2 good years in him. Now that I have kids and I am so busy and tired I don't want the responsibility of going for walks even when it's so cold and rainy and also the fact that whenever you go somewhere you have to have someone take care of your animal. Of course, now I know why for the longest time my parents would not let me have a dog. Cats, parrots or other birds, fish was OK.

Anyway, we had fun with this little pet for a week. Our friends came and got her today. Dacian told me all week that she is his pet and we can't give her back but today he had no problem with it. I guess I talked about it enough to give him a heads up.

Isn't she so cute? I love her pure white coat. Pixel is deaf but still very cute and playful.
I love this boy.
And this girl. I couldn't get a picture with the ferret and Lavinia. She kept laughing the whole time so here she is anyway.

Anniversary and New Year's

My Romanian potato salad. It's so good. I make it every holiday.

Dacian was rather scared when we had our party popers going off. I think it was more that he was so tired and just lost it. He is not the happiest in this picture but I don't have any other good ones.

My nice vacation is coming to an end so soon. I had a wonderful time off and had a quiet, relaxing Christmas. I enjoyed playing with my kids, cooked less and tried to nap some.

On the 29th my husband and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Can't believe it's been this long. Shane surprised me with a night's stay at a fancy downtown Seattle hotel. It was so nice to be in the city. We had the kids with us first to go swimming with us. The pool was at the top floor and it was so cool to see all the other tall buildings and the Puget Sound so close by. Beautiful view. Later we dropped off the kids with my parents and then had Raclette ( a Swiss cheese that you melt and pour over potatoes and eat with bacon or other meats and pickles, super yummy) in the room (almost set off the fire alarm) and then had desert at Cheecake Factory. Also we slept in and what a treat that was. I felt like I hadn't done that in years. We then went to Pike Market and walked around and had lunch and desert at a very yummy French Pastry. I love the city. We don't go very often so when we go it's quite a treat. It was so fun to be together just the two of us. Love you Shane, thanks for 8 great years and thank you for a lovely day.

On to New Year's now. We spent it with the whole family at Patrick's house. Taylor, our good friend came too. It was so rad. It was what I think all New Year's parties should be like. We were there until almost 4am. It reminded me of Romania when we stayed up eating, dancing and watching TV all night. It is a night like no other there and I was so glad we got to do that here. They had really good food and music and a projector that was projecting the image on a huge wall. They even had Romanian music manele and I was dancing like a maniac at that point. I really miss Romania especially this time of the year.

I brought deviled eggs and a Romanian potato salad that I shaped into a Christmas tree. It was fun to make and I got this idea from a Romanian food blog.

Our friend, Patrick married this cool girl from Kenya and I just thinks she is the coolest and can't be happier for him. Congrats guys.

Well, that's my latest for now. I wish you all a Happy, prosperous, filled with blessings New Year!