As if I was not outnumbered enough,

Here's our 2 newest Woods boys

Jasper ( Bouvier de Flandres ) 7+ weeks

Jessie ( Coton de Tulear ) 14 weeks

A Fresh Option

Our trusty "Taste of Asia" which served authentic Southeast Asian food has closed down since the beginning of the year.  It had threatened to close down many times, mostly because it didn't serve "Americanized" Asian food, but instead, the Cambodian owners had stayed true to the dishes I knew from the region. And so, in a town like Abilene, their regular customers were pretty limited, I'm sure.  It seems like even the world-cuisine-savvy customers from Dyess airforce base were not enough. :(

So we decided to try Sunrise restaurant, a fairly new Asian Restaurant in town.  Ecko's Restaurant had closed and the new owners had opened Sunrise in its place.  Cindy had suggested we try it, and the hubs had read all kinds of rave reviews online about it, and so we thought, why not.

The decor was somewhat the same as what we remembered from years ago, but brighter and airier.  The staff was super nice and helpful, the food was good, and the price was right.

Our waiter came out near the end of our meal and holds out this "off-the-menu menu", which was basically actual China-style Chinese food, like steamed WHOLE FISH and leafy green vegetables and what not.  In other words, comfort food for someone like me.  It was really nice that they would "look out for their own"

The hubs and Cindy both thought that this would definitely be a go-to option from now on. :)

Love makes the world go round

I received a bunch of valentine cards from both of my sweet darling boys, but this one was extra special because the little boy made if all by himself, without any prompting or help from daddy :)

Can you spot the "I ♡  you MOM?" :)

Quality Control ... FAIL

So we're walking around Dollar Tree, and I'm going through the aisles where there would be things that I could use with Jaxon... and I am suddenly struck by a "What is wrong with this picture" feeling.

Upon closer inspection, I see that the colors in the paint palettes are just mainly brown and bleh.

*sigh*

Although I often go to the Dollar Tree for a bunch of stuff, I am also reminded of one of my mom's famous sayings...

"Good things no cheap, Cheap things no good"

Heh :) I mean, seriously, people. How could you even put those out to sell? *sigh again*

TechnoBabe

Here's what greeted me when I turned on the tablet the other day.

someone had been googling JaxonMomDad, and it wasn't mom OR dad :)

Chinese New Year 2013

I haven't celebrated CNY since I came to the states, besides the one year where we joined the international students at Susan Green's house, way before the little boy was born.

This year, though, we went to TWO different celebrations!

 

Firstly, we went by the Old Jail Art Center over in Albany, the next town over to join in their 4th Annual Lunar New Year Family Festival.


 

We were a little late, but were greeted by sounds of drumming from a troupe that had been invited over from Dallas.  The hubs and I enjoyed it, but but as usual, the little boy thought it was a tad too loud :)

I caught sight of some brothers who had colorful snakes painted on their faces, who were enjoying the drum performance with their mom..

During the drummers' break, the crowd moved into the building to the exhibition/craft area for more CNY fun...





There as a long lantern-dragon hanging from the ceiling, looking down at the various craft stations and the "refreshment area",





and the little boy had fun going from station to station, coloring, scratching and gluing...

 



After a while, we got a few fortune cookies and tangerines and ate our little treats while watching Chinese Acrobats do their thing on the TV monitor...





When we had had "enough" of the CNY part, we wandered off to find the hubs to check out the rest of the art center/museum.  They had an "Asian Collection" exhibition, and featured work from the artist Kana Harada

 



We had another CNY activity to get to that evening, and so we hopped into our car and were driving off when we saw THIS! A Dragon Pinata!






We went around to a couple of local sights, and when we passed by the pinata again on the way home, the pinata bashing was in full swing ( er, pun not really intended ), and the kids looked like they were having a blast.






Of course, when the little boy spies any playground structure, it is hard to say no.  We had a little time to spare, so we stopped by the little park thingy for a few minutes so that the little boy could get some of that toddler energy out.





My boys....






We stopped by the house for a few minutes to let Henry the dog out and like that, and then were out again to the Chinese New Year dinner organized by the ACU CSSA at the multipurpose room at University Church.





We met up with and sat with Cindy there,

 



as well as Xia Yu and her husband, and a few other friends..





I don't think I have been in room with this many Asian faces in a LONG time :)





There were several student presentations, and massive amounts of yummy chinese food.

It was nice to be able to expose the little boy to some of the other side of his cultural make up, but I am still unable to convince him fully that his mummy is in fact, Chinese. :)

Here's wishing everyone a healthy happy and blessed year of the snake :)

Happy Chinese New Year, Y'all :)

Here's to the Hubs and my brother, both who were born in the year of the snake..

Cousins

Max is 6 months older than you are, and at first, those 6 months were a wide wide gap developmental-wise, but now, you seem more like contemporaries.  You love playing with Max, and look forward to Taco Tuesdays, when you guys can romp and play a little bit :)

Can't think of a Title....

My boys, and the little boy loving on his daddy :)

HEB Stickers are fun fun fun :)

My shimmering Twilight boy :)