Can I play with the Nutcracker?

This question comes out of Rose's mouth quite frequently. We have a fairly large traditional-style red Nutcracker that I got from Dabby (my grandmother). It pretty much stays in a drawer until the holiday season, when it comes out and is displayed on our mantel. A good blogger would have taken a picture of said Nutcracker, uploaded it to the computer, and put it in this post. Yeah, well, that just seems like way too much effort right now. Anyways, Rose always asks if she can play with the Nutcracker. Tonight: "Can I play with the Nutcracker? I want to open his mouth." Umm, no. You may not play with the Nutcracker's mouth.

So you can imagine how excited Rose (and Lucy) were to go see a REAL production of "The Nutcracker." I took the girls to this last year, and they went with their school class this year. I was working, of course, so I couldn't go. Sheref, however, is off with Charlie for 3 months, so he went along and took Charlie with him.

Yeah, this photo is horrible quality and Rose & Lucy look weird. However, Charlie looks pretty cute and it's the only one I have of them getting ready to leave for the theater!

At the theater.

They were so excited to get dressed up and go to the Nutcracker with their school friends. They told us over and over what a great day they had. Cute!

A Boy & his Dog

Willie is the family member who had the hardest transition with Charlie's arrival. Seriously. He wasn't quite himself for weeks. Willie is sort of like a neighborhood celebrity. Sheref walks Willie a lot, and always walks Willie to pick Ella up from school. Consequently, it seems like EVERYONE in the neighborhood knows Willie. If I take him for a walk, inevitably I pass several people, who say, "Oh hi Willie!!" They don't even look at me, just talk directly to my tiny dog. Little old ladies, kids, even big gruff looking guys comment "Hi Willie!" or "your dog is so cute!" Which is a funny thing to hear come out of a large tattooed guy's mouth, when referring to a 4lb dog. Anyways, 5 weeks after Charlie's arrival, Willie's coming around now, is back to his cute cheerful self, and actually seems to really like Charlie.

Willie's favorite toy is "Chippy," a $6 stuffed chipmunk. Chippy is just slightly smaller than Willie himself. Willie loves to carry him around, bite him, throw him in the air, bite him some more, etc. Charlie has figured out that Willie will jump around, bark and "fake growl" if he (Charlie) grabs Chippy. So Charlie grabs Chippy and swing him around, Willie goes nuts, and Charlie laughs. It is hysterical to watch.

Charlie and the Gourds

It is uncharacteristically cold in *** right now. For those of us who originally hail from the North, it's mildly amusing to see people freak out about frost. That said, it is pretty cold, which has caused these pumpkins/gourds to shrivel up and dry out. They are being thrown away tonight, so in honor of this year's gourds...








Charlie enjoying the last of the fall weather...













About to leap off the porch. Thank goodness Daddy stopped him...
















Huh?

Things that crack me up

Right now I'm supposed to be working on a decision tree to analyze cost-effectiveness of delivering a certain type of twins preterm versus...argh, I can't even stomach typing the whole thing out. Suffice it to say, I'm NOT really working on that. Instead, I was looking through Sheref's photographs of Seoul. And cracking up at these photos. This is outside the palace (note the guards in traditional royal dress). And, yes, they are indeed mingling with 21st century gigantic-headed cartoon characters. And, yes, they are outside a Dunkin' Donuts.

Do you love Seoul or what? I do.

And just in case you didn't feel you saw them up close enough...

Random Image

This is Charlie's foster mom bundling him up to leave the Holt offices with Sheref. She did see Charlie again, that night when Sheref took her, her husband and sister & brother-in-law to dinner, but I still think in her mind this was a good-bye. I love this image, how sweetly and carefully she is getting him ready.

Enter the Way Back Machine

I was just looking through my photographs, and this one was way too cute not to share. This is a photo of Rose, Lucy and my nephew Cooper (who is 4 days older than Rose & Lucy) at my parents' place in Florida. They are 2 1/2 here. I was doing a "photo shoot" with them, and they kept cracking each other up. Cute!

Garden of the Martyrs

Having taken Charlie to mass for the first time this evening, it seems like a proper day for this post. Sheref met and "got" Charlie on Thursday, November 4th. His meeting at Holt was in the afternoon, around 3pm. He met Charlie, his foster mother, and DJ, the social worker, exchanged gifts, chatted with the foster mom, etc. Sheref was planning to take the foster parents and the foster father's brother and his wife out for dinner that evening. DJ, the social worker, was gracious enough to come along to facilitate language interpretation. She is quite an amazing woman, but that is another story.

So Sheref had a few hours to burn between the time he "got" Charlie (I just can't come up with a better word..."got" just sounds wrong) and the time they all met up for dinner. I know my husband, and although he is generally super laid-back, I know he must have been fairly emotional and contemplative at that moment. DJ had recommended he visit the Garden of the Martyrs (I am writing this post from my memory of Sheref relaying this story to me several weeks ago, so the names and facts might not be entirely, uh, accurate, but the gist of it is correct!!), which is within walking distance of Holt. So Sheref set off, Charlie in his carrier (Sheref says that he got a lot of looks, since apparently only women "wear" babies in carriers in Korea...oh well) in search of this destination. The Garden of the Martyrs is a cemetery for the Christian missionaries and martyrs in Korea over the past centuries. Since I wasn't there, I can't tell you much more than that, but I know this must have been one of the most special moments in Seoul for Sheref. He said that he was feeling very contemplative and just a slight bit anxious at having just been handed a new child, who at 10 months of age had never met him before. He said that visiting this cemetery gave him peace, and a sense of calm.

Entry to the cemetery

I love this photograph (below). Beautiful lines, no?

I can't really "narrate" these photos, since I wasn't there, but they are beautiful pictures, and I'll just let them speak for themselves.