Of course I am grateful for my wonderful family (both sides) and all of my lovely friends and a roof over my head and a job and all those things. A LOT grateful. But Thanksgiving got me thinking of some of the extra bits making life extra sweet these days:
***Roscoe is sleeping 3 (sometimes more!!) hours in a row. And not just for a day. FOR A WEEK STRAIGHT. Oh. Em. Gee.
***Coming home to a home cooked meal a lot of nights. Ribs, crab, stews, curries, pastas, steaks, arroz caldo, tilapia, burgers, salmon, adobo, you-name-it. My in-laws can cook!
***A real kitchen. I am finding that I really enjoy cooking myself these days. I think having a real kitchen for the first time in... ever?...has made a big difference. No more bitty studio kitchens or whatever you call that kitchen we just renovated with a whole 1 square foot of counter space+mice+massive wall holes. Plus, cooking for 5 sure beats cooking for one and eating it for a week straight.
***My (local) girlfriends. I have amazing girlfriends I have had for a very long time. But... they are all so far away. I have lived in San Francisco now for 7.5 years and I finally have a local group of girls I adore and can't get enough of (Bea, Chida and Katrina: I love you!) plus other pockets of friends that make life so much sweeter and make my belly ache from laughing (Maria, that's you).
***Looking forward to our Christmas trip. Sure holiday traveling is chaotic and expensive and I am sure we'll need some recovery time when we return. But I am so thankful that we get to go. I miss My People and I miss spending special days with them. Between Roscoe's first birthday, Christmas and meeting new babies (Brody, Hadleigh, Luka) there are many special days to be had this trip. The love I feel for my family and friends I will see there would only be trivialized by trying to describe it. Suffice to say I can't wait!
***Hand-me-downs. We have won the hand-me-down lottery with Roo. Starting with the 100 lbs or more of baby clothes Mitchel and Heather lent us and then some from Basi and then my coworker's twin boys who are a year older than Roo... I know we are lucky!
***My Boo. Specifically the fact that even through the past year of complete chaos (colicky baby, complete home renovation, living with his parents, almost nonexistent sleep...) I actually still like him and we still laugh (most days, that is). This may seem a small thing, but I can assure you that I didn't always WANT to like him, but he weaseled his way in. There is no one else I would rather be on this roller coaster with.
Alright, then. Enough of this sap. The big news here is that Roscoe is starting to stand on his own. Like an aging, drunk man all tipsy and wobbly with his half-bald head, but we are ridiculously proud of every effort and terrified of what this new skill will bring.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Halloween Bonus...
Ray (finally) uploaded his photos of Halloween (large files and slow Internet connection = procrastination). As always, they are worth the wait!
Key: Basi was a lego, Diwa was a spider (Lisa was the web), Lala was a clown and the Rooster was a (very serious) lion.
Key: Basi was a lego, Diwa was a spider (Lisa was the web), Lala was a clown and the Rooster was a (very serious) lion.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Break Out The Tulips and Windmill Cookies!
Happy Dutch American Heritage Day everyone! Oh, wait, you didn't even know about this one? Yeah, I admit it's easy to miss...
I will share a few nuggets I found about our Dutch American history. What's interesting to me is that I didn't think I knew that much about Dutch culture, but now I realize that I do, I just didn't know this stuff was "Dutch." I even knew some of the Dutch words, but thought they were English... go figure.
Why November 16? On November 16, 1776, a small American warship, the Andrew Doria, sailed into the harbor of the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius in the West Indies. Only four months before, the United States had declared its independence from Great Britian. The American crew was delighted when the governor of the island, ordered that his fort's cannons be fired in a friendly salute. The first ever given by a foreign power to the flag of the United States, it was a risky and courageous act.
* The Netherlands has about 16,000 square miles of landmass, making the country roughly equal in size to New Jersey and Maryland combined.
* Following English explorer Henry Hudson's 1609 exploration of the Hudson River, a new joint stock company, the Dutch West India Company (1621), gained colonization rights in the Hudson River area and founded New Netherland (New York). In 1624 the company also established the Dutch Reformed Church (the Reformed Church in America) which has exercised a significant influence in the Dutch American community. After the British captured New Netherland in 1664, Dutch immigration virtually ceased but England imposed no severe restraints on the Dutch and the vast majority remained in New York.
* Nineteenth-century Dutch immigration, numbering about 200 people annually before 1845, increased that year to 800 and averaged 1,150 annually over the next decade. That movement stemmed from religious and economic discontent in the Netherlands; a potato famine (1845-1846) and high unemployment combined with a division in the Reformed Church that pitted conservative Calvinists against the increasingly liberal State Church forced many Dutch to emigrate. At the same time, two conservative Reformed pastors, Albertus Van Raalte (1811-1876) and Hendrik P. Scholte (1805-1868) founded respectively, Holland, Michigan (1847) and Pella, Iowa (1847). Once these communities were established, printed brochures and private correspondence triggered a persistent flow of newcomers until 1930, when immigration quotas and the Great Depression closed out that 85-year period of migration. Seventy-five to 80 percent of these immigrants originated from rural provinces surrounding the Netherlands' urban core. They settled mainly in the Midwest, clustering where the original colonies had been established in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. They also settled in and around Chicago, in Paterson, New Jersey and in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Those with hopes of becoming independent farmers moved West and gained land under the Homestead Act, which encouraged settlement in northwestern Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, and California.
* During the chief era of Dutch immigration, 1621-1970, religious and ideological viewpoints structured the character of public institutions in the Netherlands. In the Dutch Republic (1580-1795), Reformed Protestants controlled the government, schools, public charities, and most aspects of social behavior. Although both Catholics and Jews practiced their faith without hindrance, they could not hold public offices. Each group established separate schools, labor unions, newspapers, recreational clubs, and even a schedule of television programs to serve constituencies. Dutch Americans recreated parts of that structure wherever they clustered in sufficient numbers to sustain ethnic churches, schools, and other institutions.
* There are no aggressively mean-spirited or demeaning stereotypes of Dutch Americans. They are correctly perceived as valuing property, inclined to small business ventures, and culturally conservative with enduring loyalties to their churches, colleges, and other institutions. The perception that they are exceptionally clannish is also accurate, but that characteristic is demonstrated primarily among Reformed Protestants. Other ethnic stereotypes—financial penury, a proclivity for liquor and tobacco, and a general humorlessness—reflect individual rather than group features.
* The earlier immigrants' plain diets (potatoes, cabbage and pea soup with little meat beyond sausage and bacon) could not compete with America's meat-oriented menu. In general, Dutch foods are not rich or exotic. Potatoes and vegetables combined with meat in a Dutch oven, fish, and soups are typical. The Indonesian rice table, now widely popular in Dutch American kitchens, came from Dutch colonials. Holiday pastries flavored with almond paste are a major component of Dutch baked goods. Social gatherings thrive on coffee and cookies with brandy-soaked raisins during the Christmas season.
(Shout out for the Christmas banket! The tradition lives on!)
* In general, the Dutch language is no longer used by Dutch Americans. The vast majority of postwar immigrants have adopted English and the small number of immigrants who have arrived since the 1960s are bilingual because English is virtually a second language in the Netherlands. Still, some Dutch words and expressions have survived: vies ("fees") denotes filth and moral degradation; benauwd ("benout"
* In the Colonial Era the Dutch Reformed Church experienced crippling divisions (1737-1771) due to conflicting views of ordination and theological education. One group favored continued interdependence with church authorities in the Netherlands, while the other promoted education and clerical ordination at "home" in the colonies. In 1792, the Dutch Reformed Church became an independent denomination known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church (RCA). In the late 1840s about 3,000 Dutch Protestant immigrants settled in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Some Midwestern immigrants objected to this fusion with American culture and initiated a separatist movement in 1857 which became the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Throughout the next hundred years, the two denominations pursued different strategies for cultural adaptation. The RCA acquired American church programs, including the revival, the Sunday school movement, and ecumenical cooperation, while neglecting its Netherlandic connections and traditions. The CRC, however, remained loyal to its religious cohorts in the Netherlands. That posture was marked by its general use of Dutch until the 1920s, and by the CRC's efforts to recreate Calvinistic schools and other institutions on the Dutch model. The prospect for an eventual reunification of the RCA and CRC is good. The two denominations proclaim identical confessions of faith and no barriers restrict their mutual participation in sacramental rites. They are divided primarily by traditions, which are becoming increasingly irrelevant due to a rapid assimilation of America's mainstream religious attitudes and values.
(Uh, no wonder I have never met anyone non-Dutch that is Reformed or Christian Reformed...)
* Throughout most of the nineteenth century, Dutch immigrants preferred agriculture as the means to economic independence. Because 80 percent of them were farm hands, day laborers, small farmers, and village craftsmen, they readily became self-employed farmers either on inexpensive government land or, after 1862, on free homestead land until about 1900.
(Minnesota... Iowa... farmers... sound familiar anyone?)
* The vast majority of Dutch Americans are Republicans but they are usually not political activists.
I will share a few nuggets I found about our Dutch American history. What's interesting to me is that I didn't think I knew that much about Dutch culture, but now I realize that I do, I just didn't know this stuff was "Dutch." I even knew some of the Dutch words, but thought they were English... go figure.
Why November 16? On November 16, 1776, a small American warship, the Andrew Doria, sailed into the harbor of the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius in the West Indies. Only four months before, the United States had declared its independence from Great Britian. The American crew was delighted when the governor of the island, ordered that his fort's cannons be fired in a friendly salute. The first ever given by a foreign power to the flag of the United States, it was a risky and courageous act.
(Too bad my wooden shoes are in storage. I bet Roscoe would love banging things with them to celebrate the day.)
* The Netherlands has about 16,000 square miles of landmass, making the country roughly equal in size to New Jersey and Maryland combined.
* Following English explorer Henry Hudson's 1609 exploration of the Hudson River, a new joint stock company, the Dutch West India Company (1621), gained colonization rights in the Hudson River area and founded New Netherland (New York). In 1624 the company also established the Dutch Reformed Church (the Reformed Church in America) which has exercised a significant influence in the Dutch American community. After the British captured New Netherland in 1664, Dutch immigration virtually ceased but England imposed no severe restraints on the Dutch and the vast majority remained in New York.
* Nineteenth-century Dutch immigration, numbering about 200 people annually before 1845, increased that year to 800 and averaged 1,150 annually over the next decade. That movement stemmed from religious and economic discontent in the Netherlands; a potato famine (1845-1846) and high unemployment combined with a division in the Reformed Church that pitted conservative Calvinists against the increasingly liberal State Church forced many Dutch to emigrate. At the same time, two conservative Reformed pastors, Albertus Van Raalte (1811-1876) and Hendrik P. Scholte (1805-1868) founded respectively, Holland, Michigan (1847) and Pella, Iowa (1847). Once these communities were established, printed brochures and private correspondence triggered a persistent flow of newcomers until 1930, when immigration quotas and the Great Depression closed out that 85-year period of migration. Seventy-five to 80 percent of these immigrants originated from rural provinces surrounding the Netherlands' urban core. They settled mainly in the Midwest, clustering where the original colonies had been established in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. They also settled in and around Chicago, in Paterson, New Jersey and in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Those with hopes of becoming independent farmers moved West and gained land under the Homestead Act, which encouraged settlement in northwestern Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, and California.
* During the chief era of Dutch immigration, 1621-1970, religious and ideological viewpoints structured the character of public institutions in the Netherlands. In the Dutch Republic (1580-1795), Reformed Protestants controlled the government, schools, public charities, and most aspects of social behavior. Although both Catholics and Jews practiced their faith without hindrance, they could not hold public offices. Each group established separate schools, labor unions, newspapers, recreational clubs, and even a schedule of television programs to serve constituencies. Dutch Americans recreated parts of that structure wherever they clustered in sufficient numbers to sustain ethnic churches, schools, and other institutions.
* There are no aggressively mean-spirited or demeaning stereotypes of Dutch Americans. They are correctly perceived as valuing property, inclined to small business ventures, and culturally conservative with enduring loyalties to their churches, colleges, and other institutions. The perception that they are exceptionally clannish is also accurate, but that characteristic is demonstrated primarily among Reformed Protestants. Other ethnic stereotypes—financial penury, a proclivity for liquor and tobacco, and a general humorlessness—reflect individual rather than group features.
* The earlier immigrants' plain diets (potatoes, cabbage and pea soup with little meat beyond sausage and bacon) could not compete with America's meat-oriented menu. In general, Dutch foods are not rich or exotic. Potatoes and vegetables combined with meat in a Dutch oven, fish, and soups are typical. The Indonesian rice table, now widely popular in Dutch American kitchens, came from Dutch colonials. Holiday pastries flavored with almond paste are a major component of Dutch baked goods. Social gatherings thrive on coffee and cookies with brandy-soaked raisins during the Christmas season.
(Shout out for the Christmas banket! The tradition lives on!)
* In general, the Dutch language is no longer used by Dutch Americans. The vast majority of postwar immigrants have adopted English and the small number of immigrants who have arrived since the 1960s are bilingual because English is virtually a second language in the Netherlands. Still, some Dutch words and expressions have survived: vies ("fees") denotes filth and moral degradation; benauwd ("benout"
* In the Colonial Era the Dutch Reformed Church experienced crippling divisions (1737-1771) due to conflicting views of ordination and theological education. One group favored continued interdependence with church authorities in the Netherlands, while the other promoted education and clerical ordination at "home" in the colonies. In 1792, the Dutch Reformed Church became an independent denomination known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church (RCA). In the late 1840s about 3,000 Dutch Protestant immigrants settled in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Some Midwestern immigrants objected to this fusion with American culture and initiated a separatist movement in 1857 which became the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Throughout the next hundred years, the two denominations pursued different strategies for cultural adaptation. The RCA acquired American church programs, including the revival, the Sunday school movement, and ecumenical cooperation, while neglecting its Netherlandic connections and traditions. The CRC, however, remained loyal to its religious cohorts in the Netherlands. That posture was marked by its general use of Dutch until the 1920s, and by the CRC's efforts to recreate Calvinistic schools and other institutions on the Dutch model. The prospect for an eventual reunification of the RCA and CRC is good. The two denominations proclaim identical confessions of faith and no barriers restrict their mutual participation in sacramental rites. They are divided primarily by traditions, which are becoming increasingly irrelevant due to a rapid assimilation of America's mainstream religious attitudes and values.
(Uh, no wonder I have never met anyone non-Dutch that is Reformed or Christian Reformed...)
* Throughout most of the nineteenth century, Dutch immigrants preferred agriculture as the means to economic independence. Because 80 percent of them were farm hands, day laborers, small farmers, and village craftsmen, they readily became self-employed farmers either on inexpensive government land or, after 1862, on free homestead land until about 1900.
(Minnesota... Iowa... farmers... sound familiar anyone?)
* The vast majority of Dutch Americans are Republicans but they are usually not political activists.
In case this isn't enough Dutch American history for you, check out this site:
Dutch Americans - History, Modern era, The first dutch settlers in america, Significant immigration waves http://www.everyculture.Sunday, November 14, 2010
Grandma Neda-Bird Flies Through...
And was it ever the eventful week. I did get lots of work done, which was an important goal of the visit. Ray and I also went on our very first dinner date since the birth of Roo (thank you, friends, for the Limon gift certificate for my birthday - ceviche, lomo saltado, sangria...YUM!). And then, you know, the whole selling our house thing (short lived as it was), Ikaika's surgery, babysitting Roo's cousins Basi and Diwa, haircuts all around and a good time had by all. Here is a glimpse...
Getting spoiled... I'll let you decide which one I am talking about :)
Roscoe pushing Diwa in the Jeep:
Diwa pushing Roscoe in the Jeep:
Diwa hitching a ride from Roscoe on the Jeep (endless hours of entertainment!):
Roo showing off those hard-earned teeth:
His "Oh-My" pose:
Loving his avocado pit:
Looking just like Daddy:
Poor Kai wearing his Special Necklace after surgery:
Roscoe mastering his Crawl-With-Car maneuver:
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The SF Nest and the No Good, Very Bad Day
Well, it started out just fine. Grocery shopping, Roscoe's swimming lesson, a trip to the park...
Then the call came in. Our buyers backed out. Basically saw the inspection and freaked out. There were no surprises, we had disclosed everything and it wasn't that bad, but it is a very old house and there are things that will need fixing eventually. And they are moving here from France so it was all just too overwhelming for them. And completely sucks for us.
And then the next call came. Ikaika just had a tumor removed on Tuesday and the lab results are back. It's cancer. The don't know the extent of it yet, just that it's Stage II (of III) but not sure if/how far it's spread. We are meeting with and oncologist soon to discuss our options and next steps.
Ray and I were just saying, wow, today kind of sucks. And then he cracked us up by saying, "and our pet's heads are falling off!" (Dumb and Dumber quote). Life goes on and it all works out in the end. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Then the call came in. Our buyers backed out. Basically saw the inspection and freaked out. There were no surprises, we had disclosed everything and it wasn't that bad, but it is a very old house and there are things that will need fixing eventually. And they are moving here from France so it was all just too overwhelming for them. And completely sucks for us.
And then the next call came. Ikaika just had a tumor removed on Tuesday and the lab results are back. It's cancer. The don't know the extent of it yet, just that it's Stage II (of III) but not sure if/how far it's spread. We are meeting with and oncologist soon to discuss our options and next steps.
Ray and I were just saying, wow, today kind of sucks. And then he cracked us up by saying, "and our pet's heads are falling off!" (Dumb and Dumber quote). Life goes on and it all works out in the end. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
HAPPY (not angry) ALL CAPS
WE JUST ACCEPTED AN OFFER ON OUR HOUSE.
Close date of December 15.
We are moving on!!
Close date of December 15.
We are moving on!!
Reason #794 Why I Love My Father-In-Law
This is him taking out the garbage and recycling in the rain.
Complete with pajama pants under his shorts for warmth, an orange rain coat, sandals, work gloves and an authentic sombrero. Function over fashion, people.
Complete with pajama pants under his shorts for warmth, an orange rain coat, sandals, work gloves and an authentic sombrero. Function over fashion, people.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Vamos Gigantes!
From: CNN Breaking News
Date: Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 7:32 PM
Subject: CNN Breaking News
-- Giants defeat Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 to win first World Series since leaving New York for San Francisco in 1950s.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 7:32 PM
Subject: CNN Breaking News
-- Giants defeat Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 to win first World Series since leaving New York for San Francisco in 1950s.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roo staying up past his bedtime to watch with Tatay:
(Added pride points in this house because their awesome pitcher Tim Lincecum is half-Filipino half-Caucasian, just like our little Rooster.)
Monday, November 1, 2010
ROAWRRRRRRR
Roscoe the Scary Lion (ok, maybe not that scary since Lolo thought he was a sunflower...):
(Ray got better photos, but I couldn't wait for him to upload them...)
We spent Halloween afternoon at the home of our lovely friends, Katrina and David, who made us a delicious meal along with our other equally lovely friends Bea and Chida. I have been looking forward to this for ages and it was great to have us all together for the afternoon.
Could my friends and their home BE any cuter? I think not:
Last week was kind of a downer because our wonderful nanny, Fran, left us to move back to Brazil. Here she is with her little buddy (and the glow worm she got him):
Roscoe even looks so sad! We'll miss her.
And then a couple more from the exciting life of Roscoe...
I am not sure if his arm got too warm or if that particular sleeve was just a bit uncomfortable (notice the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake):
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