Today was a test. Would Carson take a bottle from Grandma? He won’t take one from his mom. I had a very good helper, Sophia, who recently lost a tooth.

And a bonus, Sophia borrowed my FitBit and ran up and down the stairs 10 times. I felt better right away.

Holly, Thais and Carson, Leah, and Rita (talking with a friend).

Leo’s (Holly’s son) Kindergarten class sang about taking a bath.
Sophia’s class sang about bugs – yes, God loves bugs too, no matter how annoying they might be sometimes.
Lauren (Leah’s daughter, at far left) and friends performed a dance.
At the end of the 2-hour performance, awards were given for Pi Day – the student at each grade level who memorized the longest string of numbers for pi 3.14— A second grader memorized 107 digits after the decimal point. The school winner was a fourth grader with 114 digits. What! Each grade level winner got a pie, of course!
Meanwhile, at home, Carter kept watch – the pink gun made him feel fierce.

Thais spent one more night at the hospital and Lenin stayed with her and Carson. Sophia and Avery wanted Grandma to spend the night – hurray! – because I wrap them up like a sausage after their baths. Barbie got her hair dyed:

The king bed got a bit crowded with me, Sophia, Avery, AND Carter. I was edged out in the middle of the night and went to sleep in Avery’s room. In the morning, Avery woke up first, found me, and asked if he could get into the bed with me. Sure. I kept my eyes closed hoping for more sleep. That was ok for a short time, then Avery stuck his finger in my nose … again and again. I couldn’t help but laugh. Time to get up!

Born to Thais and Lenin on January 29: Carson Jade, 6 lbs 14 oz.
The big brother will have to get used to new-baby sounds.

Last Thursday, I got to watch Sophia and Avery while Thais and Lenin went on a hospital tour. Carter was very ready to pose for several pictures, while Sophia and Avery raced each other to finish the puzzle.

Sophia plays basketball on Saturdays and Sundays. Each league offers a different style of play. On Saturday, it’s all girls who must be playing basketball for the first time. 10 players all from Sophia’s second grade class at St Ignatius.
On Sunday, it’s mostly boys and everyone seems to know how to go up and down the court quickly, although traveling, double-dribbling, and going out-of-bounds is just fine. Players are matched by the same colored wrist band. Note the boy in the black t-shirt who was guarding Sophia (occasionally) – his defense was hilarious. He danced, hopped back and forth, made goofy faces, waved his arms crazily as he guarded Sophia (half his size). She just looked at him like he was a idiot and passed the ball to an open player.

The shopping bag moved mysteriously across the floor.








And finally, a belly comparison. Thais is 8 months along and Justin is …

Avery’s preschool, Milestones, went “caroling”. Each group rotated while the adults stayed put.

While everyone else sang the songs, these two did their own thing. Hilarious.

Front to back: Justin, Thais, Lenin, Avery on Uncle Jeff’s lap, Aunty Leah, Lala/Rita.
The first and second grade classes:

I went with Justin on some errands in Yuba City/Marysville today. We had lunch at
which used to be a successful brothel long ago.


Darn those out-of-focus pictures! I must try to do better.

Landscaping project finished. On to the next: turning available land into pasture. Neighbor Jaime prepared the ground and seeded. Justin cobbled together irrigation pipe to flood the rows.

Making sure the water spreads evenly.